Sam Neill’s cause of death at age 78 has been confirmed as pneumonia, according to a new statement from his representatives.
Philip Grenz, Neill’s manager, told TMZ he had died after undergoing ‘a new treatment’, CAR-T therapy, to ‘valiantly’ tackle his lymphoma.
Neill, best known for starring in Jurassic Park, had declared he was ‘cancer-free’ just months before.
In their heartbreaking announcement, his family said the beloved actor had died ‘unexpectedly’ but ‘with the dignity that had characterised his whole life’.
The statement shared that ‘the loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free.’
It was his Hunt for the Wilderpeople co-star Rima Te Waita who originally confirmed the pneumonia while speaking to the New Zealand Herald.
She said Neill would likely have been ‘annoyed’ by death rather than afraid, adding that it ‘really sucks, actually’.
On the Ryan Bridge Today Show, the Kiwi actress added: ‘I think he would be like: “For goodness sake, I got over my cancer. And now look, now I get pneumonia. What next?”.’
Te Waita echoed comments Neill had made to The Guardian in 2023, when he said: ‘I’m not afraid to die, but it would annoy me. Because I’d really like another decade or two, you know?’
She didn’t share any more information but said he was ‘on his big journey now’.
Neill’s ex-girlfriend, Laura Tingle, also shared that he had been ‘pretty sick’ for the last few weeks while on ABC Radio Sydney.
‘Everybody who loved him has been willing him on from near and far, but I think it was just a bit too much to recover from one more time,’ she said.
‘He’d had a lot of chemo and a lot of immunotherapy and, thankfully, it finally cleared him of the blood cancer that he had, but that left him pretty compromised in terms of his immune system.’
Neill was diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, four years ago, and publicly shared his diagnosis in March 2023 as he took a break from acting.
In April this year, he announced he was cancer-free and was returning to work, set to star in Godzilla x Kong: Supernova and The Last Resort next year.
Greenz added that there would be a private family and friends ceremony would be held at his New Zealand farm but there are no plans for a public memorial.
He said as Neill ‘never wanted a big fuss to be made about him in life’, they are honouring that in death.
Fans wishing to send their condolences have been urged to donate to causes he cared about, such as the Dunstan Hospital Foundation, The Snowdome Foundation or New Zealand wildlife charities.
His popularity was evident in the number of co-stars, industry heavyweights, and fans who shared tributes over the weekend.
Cillian Murphy, who remained friends with Neill after wrapping Peaky Blinders, shared a tribute with Deadline: ‘Like everyone who knew and worked with Sam, I admired him and adored him in equal measure. He was one of the kindest, funniest and gentlest people and one of the finest actors. RIP.’
Legendary Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg told Variety: ‘Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children.’
He added: ‘I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family, and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.’
Dern also called him her ‘beloved lifetime friend’ and a ‘true, noble gentleman’, as well as a ‘dream leading man’.
Neill’s extensive career included Attack Force Z (1982), Dead Calm (1989), Death in Brunswick (1990), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Piano (1993), In the Mouth of Madness (1994), and Event Horizon (1997).
He is best remembered as Dr. Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise, appearing in the original as well as Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022), the latter of which also featured original co-stars Dern and Jeff Goldblum.