THE FINAL CHAPTER OF A SCREEN LEGEND – SAM NEILL’S FAMILY BREAKS HEARTS WITH EMOTIONAL STATEMENT AFTER HIS DE-ATH
Jurassic Park star Sam Neill has died at the age of 78, triggering a wave of tributes honouring the “trailblazing” performer.
The New Zealand actor passed away on Monday surrounded by his family.
“It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia,” a statement on his Instagram said.
“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.”
Tributes began pouring in close behind news that Neill had died, with Ride Like a Girl co-star Magda Szubanski saying she was devastated.
“Like everyone else, I’m absolutely shocked and devastated … because when I spoke to him not long ago he was cancer free and really happy and excited about life. This is just devastating,” she said.
“He’s just a one-off — such a talented, classy, beautiful, wry, warm human being – really lovely man and I’m just very sad for all who loved him, and there are so many of us.
“God bless you, Sam.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Neill starred in “so many beloved Australian stories and earned a special place in Australian hearts”.
“Wry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humour and conviction that gave strength to his every performance,” Albanese said.
“He will be much mourned and long remembered. May he rest in peace.”
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New Zealand actor Karl Urban said Neill was “truly brilliant”.
“An inspiration for many who followed in his trailblazing footsteps,” Urban said.
“A national treasure who gave so much to New Zealand to to the world.”
Rachel Griffiths, who worked with Neill on crime thriller Bring Him to Me and biographical sports drama Ride Like a Girl, said the news was “such a shock” and that she would toast the star with a drink from his winery.
“Loved by so many,” she said.
“I’ll be cracking Two Paddocks tonight.”
Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, said Neill had introduced many people to the world of science.
“Maybe it was palaeontology in Jurassic Park, robotics in Bicentennial Man, space exploration in Event Horizon, or even the unlikely role of Australian scientists in the successful Apollo 11 mission in The Dish,” the agency said.
“Our heart goes out to Sam’s family, friends, and any others impacted by his passing.
“His legacy lives on in his remarkable career, life, and in the stories he told through film.”
Neill’s fight for all to access his revolutionary treatment
His death follows the actor’s recent revelation he was living cancer-free after being diagnosed with blood cancer in March 2022.
In April, Neill spoke to 7NEWS about the revolutionary therapy that helped him beat his cancer and how he wanted to make sure everyday Australians could access the life-saving treatment.
“I’ve been living with a particular type of lymphoma for about five years and I was on chemotherapy and the pretty miserable business but it was keeping me alive,” Neill said.
“Then the chemo stopped working. I was at a loss and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn’t ideal obviously.”
There was only one option left for the Hollywood star — CAR T-cell therapy, which genetically modifies patients’ blood cells.
The treatment is currently in clinical trials to treat another blood cancer, myeloma.
“[We] turbocharge those cells to then be able to now recognise the myeloma, which was not visible to the immune system before and then jump on it and kill it,” haematologist Professor Miles Prince said.
At the time, Neill added: “I’ve just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body, that’s an extraordinary thing.”
Neill was fighting for state and federal governments to fund the treatment for blood cancer patients with the help of medical foundation Snowdome.
It was hoped the therapy would be formally approved and available to patients in 2026.
“I’m very, very excited that this can happen,” Neill said.
To begin it will be offered in Victoria and NSW before being rolled out across the country.
Hollywood film legend Sam Neill has spoken exclusively to Seven News about his devastating cancer diagnosis and the revolutionary therapy that helped him beat it.
(Source: 7NEWS)
Hollywood film legend Sam Neill has spoken exclusively to Seven News about his devastating cancer diagnosis and the revolutionary therapy that helped him beat it.
A career full of highlights
Born Nigel John Dermot Neill in the Northern Ireland town of Omagh in 1947, Neill arrived in Christchurch with his family at seven years of age.
During his time at school, the prevalence of other students named Nigel inspired Neill to assume the first name “Sam”.
He went on to study English literature at the University of Canterbury, where he had his first flirtation with acting.
Neill acted in a number of television films and shorts for New Zealand television throughout the ‘70s before landing his breakthrough lead role in the locally produced 1977 action thriller Sleeping Dogs, which was screened internationally to critical acclaim.
He soon moved to Australia, landing another internationally lauded role with 1979’s My Brilliant Career.
However, it wasn’t until 1981 that he arrived on the international film stage as Damien Thorn in the occult blockbuster Omen III: The Final Conflict.
He went on to star in a number of films of varying success for the following four-and-a-half decades, including Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, The Piano and Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
A Jurassic role
He also famously starred as palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park 1, 3 and World Dominion.
“Sam Neill was a deeply soulful and beautiful man,” World Dominion director Colin Trevorrow said.
“He was a friend and collaborator at a challenging time, and his strength gave us all strength.
“I’ll remember him for his tranquillity, his love of wine, and for the calm assuredness he brought to his characters.
“It’s not every lifetime you get to befriend a legend. Forever grateful.”
‘Sam Neill’s American accent a load of T-rex poo’
The Alan Grant character is a beloved one but Neill revealed it was not free of criticism.
The actor said he had prepared to deliver a US accent in the first Jurassic Park movie, which he co-starred in with Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough in 1993, but was told by director Steven Spielberg to ditch it early during shooting.
“He came up to me halfway through the day and he said, ‘Hey, Sam, you know the accent we were talking about?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ve been working on it for four weeks.…’ He said, ‘Don’t worry about it, just use your own voice,’” Neill told Variety.
“I said, ‘That’s great, Steven, thank you so much.’ And then four days later, he came up to me and said, ‘You know that voice you’re using now?’ I said, ‘Yeah, my voice?’ He said, ‘Somewhere in between.’
“So that’s why I get a lot of flak to this day: Sam Neill’s American accent in ‘Jurassic Park’ was a load of T-rex poo.”
Outside of the big screen, Neill worked in a number of TV series and miniseries, including Merlin, Peaky Blinders and The Tudors.
Neill has received a number of honours for his extensive film career and in June 2022 was granted the title Sir when he was appointed a Knight companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Health issues
Neill made the revelation, through his memoir in March 2023, that he had been diagnosed in March the previous year with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a blood cancer which forced him to have chemotherapy for the rest of his life.
His diagnosis followed the publicity campaign for the last Jurassic Park film, Jurassic World Dominion, when his swollen glands were pointed out to him.
“The thing is, I’m crook,” he wrote in his memoir Did I Ever Tell You This.
“Possibly dying. I may have to speed this up.”
He added that he subsequently went into remission after undergoing a trial with a new chemotherapy drug, which he kept taking until his final days.
Personal life
Neill is survived by four children: a son from his Omen III co-star Lisa Harrow and a daughter from a subsequent marriage with make-up artist Noriko Watanabe. He had adopted Watanabe’s daughter from her previous marriage as well.
He also fathered a son in his early 20s who was put up for adoption. Neill was reunited with him in 1994.
He is also survived by eight grandchildren.
After separating from Watanabe in 2017, Neill formed a relationship with veteran Australian journalist Laura Tingle. It is understood the pair broke up in early 2021.
When not working, Neill split most of his latter years between his home in Sydney’s Surry Hills and his farm in New Zealand, where he kept a number of rescue animals and produced wine from his vineyard.
SOURCE: https://7news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/sam-neill-star-of-jurassic-park-dead-calm-and-the-piano-dies-aged-78-c-22570472
