Widely beloved New Zealand-raised actor Sam Neill has died aged 78.
In a post released on his official social media channels, it’s stated that Neil died in today in Sydney, Australia and was “surrounded by his family” when he went. They add that “the loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free.”
Just over two months ago, the actor revealed he had undergone a cutting-edge and very personalised treatment after battling lymphoma for five years. The results of his latest scans had revealed he had no trace of cancer in his body anymore. A cause of death has not been revealed at this time.
Neill has led an absolutely iconic career, first appearing on screen back in the 1971 telemovie “The City of No” and was still acting right up until this year, with his last role set to be in “Godzilla x Kong: Supernova” opening next year – 56 years after he began.
His most famous role remains Dr. Alan Grant in at least three “Jurassic Park” films but his career is incredibly varied with major roles in countless iconic films including John McTiernan’s “The Hunt For Red October,” Phil Noyce’s “Dead Calm,” Jane Campion’s “The Piano,” John Carpenter’s “In the Mouth of Madness,” John Ruane’s “Death in Brunswick,” Gillian Armstrong’s “My Brilliant Career,” Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Event Horizon,” Andrzej Żulawski’s “Possession” and Taika Waititi’s “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”.
Other notable film roles included “Omen III: The Final Conflict,” “Sirens,” “The Jungle Book,” “The Dish,” “Bicentennial Man,” “A Cry in the Dark,” “Restoration,” “Snow White: A Tale of Terror,” “The Horse Whisperer,” “Wimbledon,” “Dirty Deeds,” “The Magic Pudding,” “Daybreakers,” “The Daughter,” “The Hunter,” “Palm Breach,” “The Commuter,” “Sweet Country,” “Thor: Ragnarok” and more.
His work went well beyond film. Though he lost out on playing James Bond to Timothy Dalton, he ended up playing Bond’s real life inspiration as Sidney Reilly in the acclaimed mini-series “Reilly: Ace of Spies”. In late 1990s he earned a new wave of fans with his work as Merlin in the mini-series “Merlin” and had various TV roles ranging from General Macarthur in the “And Then There Were None” mini-series to Cardinal Wolsey in “The Tudors” to series like “Alcatraz,” “The Twelve ,” “Crusoe,” “Happy Town,” and “Peaky Blinders”.
In his time he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1991 and won various acting awards for his work along with landing multiple Golden Globe and Emmy nominations.
Source: ABC Australia
