Actor Sam Neill, best known as Dr Alan Grant in “Jurassic Park,” died in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, July 13. He was 78, his family announced on Instagram.
The family said Neill died surrounded by relatives and described his death as “sudden and unexpected.” No cause was disclosed. They thanked the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital and requested privacy.
The statement said Neill remained cancer-free at the time of his death. He had announced in April that he was free of stage-three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a blood cancer diagnosed in 2022.
Neill’s acting career spanned more than five decades and included over 150 screen credits. He gained international recognition through “My Brilliant Career” and starred in Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning film “The Piano.”
His best-known role came in Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic Park” in 1993. Neill later returned as palaeontologist Alan Grant in “Jurassic Park III” in 2001 and “Jurassic World Dominion” in 2022.
His other major credits included “The Hunt for Red October,” “Dead Calm,” “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” “Event Horizon,” “Peaky Blinders,” “The Tudors” and Australian drama “The Twelve.”
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Born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Omagh, Northern Ireland, in 1947, he moved to New Zealand with his family as a child. His breakthrough came in the 1977 New Zealand film “Sleeping Dogs.”
Screen Producers Australia chief executive Matthew Deaner said Neill’s work enriched Australian and New Zealand productions and inspired generations of performers and filmmakers.
