Three years before his death, Sam Neill reflected candidly on mortality, saying he did not fear dying but still hoped for “another decade or two” to enjoy the life he had built.
News of the actor’s death was announced on Monday, just months after he had shared that he was “cancer-free” following treatment for a form of blood cancer.
Speaking to The Guardian in 2023, Neill discussed his illness with characteristic openness, acknowledging that death itself did not trouble him — though the timing would “annoy” him given how much he still cherished.
“I’m not afraid to die,” he told The Guardian in 2023, “but it would annoy me. Because I’d really like another decade or two, you know? We’ve built all these lovely terraces, we’ve got these olive trees and cypresses, and I want to be around to see it all mature. And I’ve got my lovely little grandchildren. I want to see them get big.
“But as for the dying? I couldn’t care less.”
The New Zealand-born screen veteran, best known to global audiences for films including Jurassic Park, was reportedly taken to a Sydney hospital before his “sudden and unexpected” passing.
Three years before his death, Sam Neill said he did not fear dying, while making clear he still had much he wanted to live for
Confirming the news, a statement from Sam’s family said: “It is with immense sadness that the whānau (family) of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia…
‘Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life… The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free…
‘They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care…
‘More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.’ [sic]
In April, Neill – who is best known for playing Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise – announced tests had found he was cancer free.
In an interview with Channel Seven, Neill detailed how close he came to death after chemotherapy stopped working. A costly, cutting-edge treatment prolonged his life.
Neill said: ‘I’ve been living with a particular type of lymphoma for about five years and I was on chemotherapy and the pretty miserable business, but it was keeping me alive.
‘Then the chemo stopped working. I was at a loss and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn’t ideal obviously.’
Neill underwent a special treatment called CAR T-cell therapy, which genetically modifies a patient’s own T-cells to recognise and destroy cancer cells. Private treatment costs around $AUD540,000.
Neill played Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise (pictured)
‘I’ve just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body, that’s an extraordinary thing. I’m very, very excited that this can happen,’ he said at the time.
The treatment is currently in clinical trials to treat another blood cancer, myeloma.
Neill also said he was planning to make a return to acting. ‘It’s time I did another movie,’ he said.
Neill first went public with his cancer diagnosis in 2023 after being diagnosed with cancer the previous year, after initially experiencing swollen glands.
He found out about as his stage-three blood cancer while he promoted Jurassic World Dominion in 2022.
In that film he reprised his role as Grant alongside original co-stars Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum alongside Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Neill was born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Ireland and his family moving to New Zealand in 1954. Pictured in Cannes in 2008
He told Australian Story at the time: ‘I’m not in any way frightened of dying. That doesn’t worry me. It’s never worried me from the beginning, but I would be annoyed.
‘I’d be annoyed because there are things I still want to do. Very irritating, dying. But I’m not afraid of it.’
Neill, who was born in Northern Ireland to an English mother and a New Zealander father, first disclosed the news of his illness in his memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This, where he writes in the first chapter that he is ‘possibly dying’.
Reflecting on life at the time, the seasoned actor once again said that he did not fear death, admitting, ‘I’m not afraid to die. But it would annoy me. Because I’d really like another decade or two, you know?’
