WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Actor Sam Neill died of pneumonia and will be remembered in a private family memorial at his farm in New Zealand, his agent told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Neill’s family had previously confirmed that the actor, widely known for roles in “Jurassic Park,” “The Piano” and a long list of film and television projects, died Monday in Sydney.
His agent, Philip Grenz, said he was sharing additional details after speaking with Neill’s family and in response to news coverage that he said included “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.”
Grenz also noted that Neill had remained active professionally, filming four projects “back-to-back” over the past year. Those productions are expected 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.
The New Zealand actor revealed in 2023 that he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In April, he said he was cancer-free. CAR-T therapy, the treatment Grenz referenced, is an immunotherapy that uses a patient’s own T cells and is used to treat several blood cancers.
The statement from Neill’s agent came after several days of tributes from colleagues across the film industry, many of whom remembered him as warm, sharply funny and endlessly curious.
“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.
