Sam Neill, "Jurassic Park" and "The Piano" star, dies at 78 - CBS News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Wellington, New Zealand — Sam Neill, a smoothly elegant and versatile actor whose career moved from art film to blockbuster as he dodged velociraptors in "Jurassic Park" to playing Holly Hunter's husband in "The Piano," has died. He was 78.
In 2023, Neill disclosed he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Neill died on Monday in Sydney, according to a family statement posted to the actor's social media page.
His death was "sudden and unexpected," the statement said, adding that he "remained cancer free" when he died. A cause of death wasn't specified.
Neill disclosed this year that he was cancer-free thanks to a genetic therapy that modified his immune system, French news agency AFP says.
"Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life," his family wrote.
Sam Neill arrives ahead of the 2021 AACTA Awards Presented by Foxtel Group at the Sydney Opera House on December 08, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images for AFI
Neil was one of a host of actors and directors who achieved international fame after an explosion of Australian films that began in the late 1970s, a list that includes Paul Hogan, Mel Gibson, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, Jane Campion, Peter Weir and Gillian Armstrong.
His range was remarkable, playing opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the Alan Ayckbourn comedy "Sweet Revenge" to chopping off Hunter's finger in "The Piano" to poking his own eyes out in the sci-fi horror "Event Horizon."
In "Omen III: The Final Conflict," he played Damien the Antichrist and he also played Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in "The Tudors."
The actor first came to the attention of international audiences in Armstrong's 1979 film "My Brilliant Career," which also introduced Judy Davis. He later appeared in Phillip Noyce's "Dead Calm," a classy thriller set at sea and co-starring the then-relatively unknown Nicole Kidman.
Neill twice co-starred with Meryl Streep, in Australian director Fred Schepisi's "Plenty" and - again for Schepisi - in "A Cry in the Dark," a film about the sensationalized aftermath of a dingo killing a baby in the Australian Outback. He earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the title role of the 1998 mini-series "Merlin" and another as narrator of 2017's "Wild New Zealand."
But perhaps he achieved his highest level of fame in "Jurassic Park" playing paleontologist Alan Grant, who is summoned to an island off Costa Rica where a theme park has been built to house herds of cloned dinosaurs. He co-starred alongside Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough.
His character was thoughtful and reasonable, a scientist who warned the mastermind of the theme park before the chaos: "Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?"
Grant survived the harrowing events when the creatures get loose, but didn't return for "The Lost World: Jurassic Park II" in 1997. He came back for the third episode in 2001 and "Jurassic World: Dominion" in 2022.
"It's probably a little late to learn these things," he told the Daily New of New York in 2001, "but I finally feel I've worked out how to be an action hero. I'm happier with Grant this time. He's gnarly and grizzled, but he looks like he knows what he's doing."
Born in 1947 in Northern Ireland, Neill emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 7. His family settled in Dunedin on the South Island and he was sent to boarding school in Christchurch. After college, he took the lead in "Sleeping Dogs" in 1977, the first feature made in New Zealand in more than a decade.
Neill's other film roles included playing a Soviet submarine officer who memorably dreams of a home in Montana in "The Hunt for Red October" and an investigator in director John Carpenter's "In the Mouth of Madness."
On the small screen, Neill played the malign Chester Campbell in TV's "Peaky Blinders" and Thomas Jefferson in the four-hour CBS miniseries, "Sally Hemings: An American Tragedy." On Apple TV+, he was on "Invasion," playing Oklahoma Sheriff John Bell Tyson, a man late in his career searching for his purpose. In 2024 he starred opposite Annette Bening in the Peacock series "Apples Never Fall."
Neill was also a vintner and under his Two Paddocks brand, he produced pinot noir and riesling wines from his winery in the Central Otago region of New Zealand's South Island.
On social media, he often posted images of his farm animals, many of them affectionately named after celebrities and friends, like Laura Dern the chicken, Kylie Minogue the duck and Helena Bonham Carter the cow.
His memoir "Did I Ever Tell You This?" came out in March 2023 and he was awarded a knighthood in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to film," a title approved by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
"I can't pretend that the last year hasn't had its dark moments," Neill told The Guardian in 2023, referring to his cancer diagnosis and treatment. "But those dark moments throw the light into sharp relief, you know, and have made me grateful for every day and immensely grateful for all my friends."
He is survived by four children and eight grandchildren.
Tags
Who is online
85 visitors
One of my all-time favorite actors has passed. I remember seeing him for the first time on PBS on "Reilly: Ace of Spies", which was about the real James Bond. He had a kind spirit and was good of heart, taken too young, and I am saddened that I will no longer see his face on film.
I kind of liked him as well.
Evening Vic..
He was a good and decent human being, very down to earth and had no airs or graces..
A great actor and an all round very nice guy...
He will be missed and all seemed to be going so well with his cancer battle..what happened they haven't said other than it was unexpected and sudden..😔
I assume he was.
they haven't said other than it was unexpected and sudden..😔
“Gradually, then suddenly” as Ernest Hemingway might say. That is usually how it happens
Well, this was sudden and unexpected. He was being treated with immunotherapy for his cancer, and I'm guessing it was that. That was what killed my cousin at 69. It can be a wonder drug, but for a very small number of people, it can go into overdrive and kill them.
He made the Jurassic Park movie. I don't think it would have worked without his performance.
Morning...he was simply what we call..
A quiet achiever..🦘
Yes, that is very fitting. Just a hard working actor.
Arvo..he was excellent in the movie "The Dish"..my favourite..
It relates to Apollo 11 landing on the moon and how the first pictures came from here at Honey Suckle Creek and Parkes in New South Wales..
There was a stuff up at first as the first pictures beamed to NASA from the moon were upside down but it looked right to us..🤣
Evening..yes both us and the Kiwis are devastated...
Wasn't expecting that one..
Sleep well Sam and thank you..
Two countries are grieving tonight under the Southern Cross stars...😔
🇦🇺💔🇳🇿
Too young. What a shame. RIP Sam Neill.
Of all his roles, my personal favorites were Brian de Bois-Guilbert, the Knights Templar in the 1982 TV version of Ivanhoe; Vasily in The Hunt for Red October; and of course Dr. Grant in Jurassic Park.
He was excellent in that roll.
It was sad when he died, dreaming of a ranch in Montana
Sad to see him gone. The most recent movie I watched him in was Bicentennial Man, but for me the most memorable part was in The Hunt for Red October. RIP Sam.
Not only are my vision and hearing fading these days, but so is my grammar - what I meant to say was 'The movie I watched him in most recently was Bicentennial Man....'
Always loved him as an actor. So sad.
Agree, he was fantastic.