Death of New Zealand actor in Sydney was ‘sudden and unexpected’, according to a family statement.
New Zealand actor Sam Neill, known for the films “Jurassic Park” and “The Piano”, has died aged 78, his family said.
His death in Sydney was “sudden and unexpected”, according to a statement posted to the actor’s social media page on Monday.
In 2023, Neill disclosed he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
His family’s statement said he “remained cancer free” when he died and did not specify a cause of death.
Neill was a smooth, 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”.
He 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.
Neill’s acting career spanned dozens of roles in TV and film, including “Peaky Blinders”, “The Hunt for Red October” and “Omen III: The Final Conflict”.
Luxon leads tributes
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon hailed the actor as “one of the greats”.
“He started out when there was barely a film industry in this country to speak of. For more than fifty years he took New Zealand stories to the world and his talents helped make our film industry into what it is today – one of our greatest cultural exports,” Luxon wrote in a social media post.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also paid tribute to Neill.
“Wry 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,” he wrote on social media.
Neill was born in Northern Ireland in 1947 but moved to New Zealand as a child.
He was born “Nigel John Dermot” but swapped the name in favour of the nickname “Sam”.
“I encouraged the nickname because I thought I’d be slightly less likely to be victimised,” he told New Zealand’s Otago Daily Times.
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”.
The actor became known in New Zealand as a modest and unassuming person who didn’t embrace celebrity.
When he was not acting, Neill also ran vineyards in the picturesque Central Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island.