GoKawiilSam Neill, the versatile New Zealand actor whose career spanned Oscar winners and blockbusters such as The Piano and Jurassic Park, has died aged 78.
The actor’s death was announced on Monday in a statement shared on his Instagram account. No cause of death was given, but Neill had only recently revealed he was cancer-free after being diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in 2022.
“It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life.
“The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free. They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private hospital for their incredible care.
“More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
Neill’s peers, friends and admirers paid tribute to him on Monday as news of his death spread.
Neill was born Nigel John Dermot Neill in 1947 in Omagh, Northern Ireland to an English mother, and a New Zealander father who was serving in the British army. The Neills moved to New Zealand in 1954. He took the name Sam when he was 12 because there were several Nigels at his school, and: “I found I moved more easily in the world as a Sam. Nigel is an awkward fit in most circumstances. Imagine being a movie actor called Nigel Neill.”
Neill attended school and university in Christchurch, but didn’t settle on acting until after he failed a “catastrophic” year of studying law. He began appearing in Canterbury University productions, and moved to Wellington to join the Downstage Theatre as a professional actor, where he was paid $35 a week and any leftover food from the kitchen from meals served to the audience before the show.
View image in fullscreen Sam Neill (centre) in Jurassic Park. Photograph: Album/Alamy
After some small roles on local television, his breakout role was in the 1977 film Sleeping Dogs, the first New Zealand film to open in the US. Soon after that he landed a leading role in My Brilliant Career (1979); played the son of the devil in Omen III (1981); appeared in Andrzej Żuławski‘s cult film Possession (1981); in the 1988 biopic Evil Angels (also known as A Cry in the Dark), as Lindy Chamberlain’s husband, Michael, opposite Meryl Streep; and in The Hunt for Red October (1990). His role in Ivanhoe (1982) made Neill a big name in Sweden, where the film has aired on TV every New Year’s Day for 40 years.
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