Jurassic Park star Sam Neill died after suffering a bout of pneumonia, one of his co-stars has claimed.
The New Zealand actor’s “sudden and unexpected” death at the age of 78 was announced on Monday. He had battled cancer, but was cancer-free at the time of his death, his family said.
Fellow Kiwi actor Rima Te Wiata, who starred alongside Neill in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, told the New Zealand Herald that Neill had also suffered from pneumonia in his final days.
“I think he would be like: ‘For goodness sake, I got over my cancer. And now look, now I get pneumonia. What next?’.
“He’s on his big journey now,” she added.
Neill’s ex-partner Laura Tingle, 65, told ABC Radio Sydney that his “poor old body just sort of got a bit exhausted.”
“He’s been pretty sick for the last couple of weeks, and 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,” Tingle said.
Neill and the Australian journalist were in a relationship for three years, from 2018 to 2021. Tingle shared a tribute to the actor Instagram, writing, “Sweet Dreams darling Sam.”
Neill had been treated for Stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma since 2022, undergoing significant treatment.
“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,” Tingle explained.
Neill declared himself cancer-free in April of this year.
In 2023, the Emmy-nominated actor published Did I Ever Tell You This?, a poignant memoir that touched upon his cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. “The thing is, I’m crook. Possibly dying,” Neill wrote in the first chapter. “I may have to speed this up.”
“I’m not afraid to die, but it would annoy me,” Neill told The Guardian.
On Monday, his family said, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney, Australia,” using the Māori word for extended family. “Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life.
The statement called his death “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill, who is survived by his two sons and two daughters, was knighted four years ago. He starred in over 50 films throughout his career. Several high-profile figures and colleagues mourned his loss.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Neill “earned a special place in Australian hearts.”
Nicole Kidman called the actor “one of the greats, a joy to be around.”
“We met when I was just 18 and he took me under his wing and we stayed friends for life,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald. “He was charming, kind, funny and intelligent.”
Neill’s Jurassic Park co-star Laura Dern wrote a tribute on Instagram. “He was a true and noble gentleman, wrapped up in my dream leading man. I will love you forever, Dr. Alan Grant.”
Director Steven Spielberg said, “Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
