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In this file photo taken on September 6, 2019, actor Sam Neill arrives for the premiere of "Blackbird" during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario. Geoff Robins, AFP

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Agence France-Presse

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17839260385871777447227878sam copy.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>In this file photo taken on September 6, 2019, actor Sam Neill arrives for the premiere of &quot;Blackbird&quot; during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario. Geoff Robins, AFP</div>SYDNEY — (UPDATED) &quot;Jurassic Park&quot; star Sam Neill died in Australia on Monday aged 78, his family said in a statement that described the beloved actor&#x27;s death as &quot;sudden and unexpected.”The New Zealander had in recent years undergone treatment for lymphoma but declared this year that he was cancer free.&quot;It is with immense sadness that the whanau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13 July, in Sydney Australia,&quot; the statement read, using the New Zealand Maori word for family.&quot;The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.&quot;The statement did not elaborate on the cause of Neill&#x27;s death, but said he had been undergoing treatment at St. Vincent&#x27;s Private Hospital in Sydney.&quot;Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life,&quot; the statement said.New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Neill was &quot;one of the greats&quot;.&quot;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,&quot; Luxon said in a statement.&quot;His work will be watched and loved long after all of us.&quot;Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Neill held a &quot;special place in Australian hearts.&quot;&quot;Wry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humour and conviction that gave strength to his every performance,&quot; Albanese said. &quot;He will be much mourned and long remembered.&quot;<div> </div><div>&#x27;Great enthusiasm&#x27;</div>Neill was born in Northern Ireland in 1947 but moved to the rugged South Island of New Zealand as a child.He was christened &quot;Nigel John Dermot&quot; but ditched the name in favor of &quot;Sam&quot; because he feared it was too &quot;effete&quot; for New Zealand.&quot;I encouraged the nickname because I thought I&#x27;d be slightly less likely to be victimised,&quot; he told New Zealand&#x27;s Otago Daily Times. &quot;I clung on to &#x27;Sam&#x27; with great enthusiasm.&quot;Neill started acting in New Zealand films in the early 1970s before moving into larger roles in Australia.His breakthrough as a leading man came in 1993 when he played Dr Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg&#x27;s Hollywood blockbuster &quot;Jurassic Park.”In a career spanning dozens of roles across TV and film, he also starred in &quot;Peaky Blinders,” &quot;The Hunt for Red October&quot; and two more installments of the &quot;Jurassic Park&quot; franchise.Neill greatly endeared himself to New Zealanders by lending his star power to local productions as well.His performance in Jane Campion&#x27;s &quot;The Piano&quot; drew wide acclaim, as did his role in Taika Waititi&#x27;s &quot;Hunt for the Wilderpeople.”Neill revealed in a 2023 memoir he was &quot;possibly dying&quot; with stage-three non-Hodgkin lymphoma.In the opening chapter, written while undergoing chemotherapy, Neill said: &quot;The thing is, I&#x27;m crook. Possibly dying. I may have to speed this up.&quot;But he revealed this year that he was cancer-free, thanks to a genetic therapy that modified his immune system.&quot;I was at a loss and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn&#x27;t ideal, obviously,&quot; he told Australia&#x27;s Channel Seven News.&quot;I&#x27;ve just had a scan just now, and there is no cancer in my body — that&#x27;s an extraordinary thing,&quot; Neill said.When he was not acting, Neill also ran vineyards in the picturesque Central Otago region of New Zealand&#x27;s South Island.

”Jurassic Park" star Sam Neill died in Australia on Monday aged 78, his family said in a statement that described the beloved actor's death as "sudden and unexpected.”

”Jurassic Park" star Sam Neill died in Australia on Monday aged 78, his family said in a statement that described the beloved actor's death as "sudden and unexpected.”

'Jurassic Park' star Sam Neill dies aged 78

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'Jurassic Park' star Sam Neill dies aged 78

Agence France-Presse

Published July 13, 2026 03:03 PM PHT

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Updated July 13, 2026 03:12 PM PHT

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