{"id":797049,"date":"2026-07-13T07:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T07:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/797049\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T07:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T07:10:12","slug":"sam-neill-death-jurassic-park-actor-sam-neill-dies-aged-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/797049\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Neill death: Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill dies aged 78"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beloved New Zealand actor Sam Neill<\/a> has died in a loss his family says was \u201csudden and unexpected\u201d following a battle with a type of blood cancer. He was 78.<\/p>\n

His family confirmed the news in a statement on Instagram on Monday. <\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

Actor Sam Neill has died. \u00a0Richard Shotwell\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with immense sadness that the wh\u0101nau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia,\u201d it read. <\/p>\n

\u201cSam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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\u2019s Private Hospital for their incredible care.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Albanese was one of the first to pay tribute to the actor, writing on X: \u201cSam Neill starred in so many beloved Australian stories and he earned a special place in Australian hearts. <\/p>\n

\u201cWry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humour and conviction that gave strength to his every performance. He will be much mourned and long remembered. May he rest in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neill\u2019s last known outing was four weeks ago on June 12, as he attended the ARIA Hall of Fame in Sydney. <\/p>\n

\u201cGreat night in Sydney. Four women I have idolised for decades were honoured. Jenny Morris, Kate Ceberano, and Vika and Linda Bull. Jenny was inducted into the Hall by no less than our former NZ PM, Jacinda Ardern. Another hero,\u201d he wrote at the time, celebrating with his friends.<\/p>\n

Neill was diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, in 2022, after experiencing swollen glands while doing publicity for Jurassic World: Dominion.<\/p>\n

He only revealed he had been privately battling the disease a year later<\/a> when he released his memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?<\/p>\n

\"Laura<\/p>\n

Laura Dern and Sam Neill in Jurassic Park, 1993. \u00a0Universal Pictures<\/p>\n

At the time, he said he was treated with chemotherapy, which eventually started to fail, and had been moved on to a new drug that he said at the time he would remain on for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n

The actor revealed he was living cancer-free in April 2026 after undergoing the groundbreaking new treatment.<\/p>\n

He revealed during an interview with\u00a07News<\/a>\u00a0he had been having\u00a0chemotherapy<\/a>\u00a0for about five years to keep him alive before it \u201cstopped working\u201d, before he was offered a lifeline in the form of CAR T-cell therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at a loss and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn\u2019t ideal obviously,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body, that\u2019s an extraordinary thing. I\u2019m very, very excited that this can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Leukaemia Foundation, CAR T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that sees CAR T-cells collected from a patient before being sent to a lab where genetic information is added to them that are tailored to recognise cancer.<\/p>\n

They are then multiplied and infused back into the body where they recognise, attack and kill cancer cells.<\/p>\n

CAR T-cell therapy is currently only approved in Australia for four types of blood cancers following a relapse.<\/p>\n

Neill said at the time that he was working to help raise awareness of the treatment that gave him more time, in the hope more Australians would have access to it in future.<\/p>\n

Neill, whose first name is Nigel, was born in Northern Ireland on September 14, 1947. His family moved to New Zealand when he was eight.<\/p>\n

After attending university, he took up acting and appeared in his first film in 1971.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

Neill was diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, in 2022.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

His big break came in the 1979 Aussie film\u00a0My Brilliant Career\u00a0before he played Michael Chamberlain in\u00a0Evil Angels,\u00a0about the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain.<\/p>\n

But it was a turn playing the husband of then little-known Aussie actress Nicole Kidman in the 1989 thriller\u00a0Dead Calm\u00a0that opened Hollywood\u2019s doors and led to the role of\u00a0Dr Alan Grant<\/a>\u00a0in the 1983 movie\u00a0Jurassic Park.<\/p>\n

He reprised the role in\u00a0Jurassic Park III\u00a0and\u00a0Jurassic World Dominion.<\/p>\n

In March 2023, Neill spoke to nine.com.au about his diagnosis and his eagerness to continue working as normal despite his health battle. <\/p>\n

\u201cWork is what I do best,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not really very good at not working, that\u2019s the truth of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always thought of myself as a very lazy person, and then when I was told I had to be lazy, it was unbearable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I wrote my book, just to pretend to be busy. The book was a kind of life-saver in way. Now I\u2019m back at work and I couldn\u2019t be happier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neill met his first wife, fellow New Zealand actress Lisa Harrow, on the set of 1981 film Omen III. They married in 1981, welcomed a son Tim in 1983, and were together for 11 years before divorcing in 1989.<\/p>\n

He wed a second time in 1993, this time to Japanese film make-up artist Noriko Watanabe. Together they had a daughter Elena in 1991 and also adopted a daughter Maiko. Neill and Watanabe were married for nearly 30 years until their split in 2017.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

Neill was nominated for a Silver Logie just weeks before his passing. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Neill was next romantically linked to ABC political journalist Laura Tingle. The couple were deeply private. What was known about their relationship came from Neill\u2019s memoir, Have I Told You This? The couple split in 2021 with Neill confirming in the memoir, \u201cI am a solitary single man now.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was also father to Andrew, who was placed for adoption when Neill was in his early twenties but reunited with his father in 1994.<\/p>\n

He was most recently nominated for a Silver Logie for Best Lead Actor in a Drama for The Twelve: Cape Rock Killer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beloved New Zealand actor Sam Neill has died in a loss his family says was \u201csudden and unexpected\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-797049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}