Sam Neill died from pneumonia, “Jurassic Park” star’s agent says

Sam Neill, star of “Jurassic Park,” “The Piano,” and other acclaimed films, died from pneumonia this week, his agent told The Associated Press. Neill was 78.

The actor’s death in Sydney, Australia, was announced Monday by his family. He will be honored at a private memorial service, which is set to take place at a later date at his New Zealand farm, Neill’s agent, Philip Grenz, told AP.

Grenz said he was providing more information after speaking with Neill’s family and following news reports “which contain inaccuracies and outright falsehoods.” 

“Sam passed away from pneumonia,” Grenz said. “Prior to becoming sick, Sam had valiantly fought and beaten lymphoma through a new treatment called CAR-T therapy.”

Neill shared his diagnosis with a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, called angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, in 2023, and said he was in remission in April.

In the family’s announcement Monday, they said Neill “remained cancer free” when he died. While they didn’t initially disclose a cause of death, the announcement described it as “sudden and unexpected.”

Neill’s agent said that he had filmed four projects “back-to-back” during the past year that are due to be released in the coming months.

“As Sam was an intensely private man who loathed a fuss, his family will honor him with a private family memorial at his farm in New Zealand at a still-undetermined later date,” Grenz said.

His agent’s statement followed days of tributes to Neill from film industry colleagues who remembered him as a kind, witty and curious man.

“You are so loved and will be sorely missed by us all,” director Taika Waititi, who directed Neill in 2016’s “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” — one of Neill’s best-loved films in New Zealand — wrote on Instagram on Wednesday.

“Love you and see you soon, sweet Nigel,” Waititi wrote, referring to Neill’s birth name, which he told interviewers he had changed to Sam at school because there were too many Nigels in his class.

“Sam was exceptionally collaborative,” said Steven Spielberg, who helmed the first “Jurassic Park” movie, in which Neill played paleontologist Alan Grant.

“I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him,” Spielberg said in a statement. “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”

Neill 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. In New Zealand, he has been mourned as a friendly, unassuming person who shunned celebrity and contributed to causes and community projects near his home, according to local news outlets.

Neill was also a vintner and under his Two Paddocks brand, he produced pinot noir and riesling wines from his winery in the Central Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island.

He is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.

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