Jurassic Park icon Laura Dern and filmmaker Steven Spielberg have led tributes to Sam Neill after the beloved actor’s sudden death at the age of 78.
Neill, widely recognized for playing paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant in the blockbuster dinosaur franchise, died only months after sharing that he was “cancer-free” following a lengthy fight with the illness.
The New Zealand-born actor passed away in a Sydney hospital on Monday.
In a statement posted to his Instagram page, his family said his death was “sudden and unexpected.” Neill had previously been diagnosed with a form of blood cancer.
Dern, who starred opposite Neill as his onscreen romantic interest Dr. Ellie Sattler, remembered him warmly in a statement, saying, “Sam was my beloved lifetime friend… He showed me the depths of loyalty, protectiveness and love always with the driest of wit.
“He was a true and noble gentleman, wrapped up in my dream leading man. I will love you forever, Dr. Alan Grant.
Spielberg said he was “saddened” by the news of Neill’s death, telling The Daily Mail in a statement, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park.
“Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children.
‘I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him. 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.’
Iconic Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg has paid tribute to star Sam Neill following his shock death at 78 – Neill pictured with Laura Dern in the 1993 film
Spielberg said he was ‘saddened’ by the news of Neill’s death, telling Variety in a statement, ‘I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill’ – pictured with the stars on set in 1993
Neill’s family said in a tribute: ‘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,’ they said.
‘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.’
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.
Spielberg said, ‘I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family’ – pictured 1993 with Neill, Goldblum, Princess Diana, Ariana Richards,Kate Capshaw and Richard Attenborough
In April, Neill – who is best known for playing Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise – announced tests had found he was cancer free
‘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.
‘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 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.
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?’
‘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.’
Neill shares a son, Tim, 40, with New Zealand actress, Lisa Harrow, to whom he was married between 1980 and 1989.
The star was married to Japanese makeup artist Noriko Watanabe from 1989-2017 and they share a daughter, Elena, 35. He also adopted Noriko’s daughter from her first marriage, Maiko.
Neill first went public with his cancer diagnosis in 2023 after being diagnosed with cancer the previous year, after initially experiencing swollen glands (pictured in 2025)
Neill was born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Ireland, with his family moving to New Zealand in 1954.
He went by the nickname Sam, dropping Nigel after deciding Sam was ‘less awkward’.
‘I found I moved more easily in the world as a Sam. Nigel is an awkward fit in most circumstances. Imagine being a movie actor called Nigel Neill,’ he said in 2014.
Neill starred in three Jurassic Park films including the original in 1993, Jurassic Park III in 2001, and Jurassic World Dominion in 2022.
He became a household name after playing palaeontologist Grant in 1993’s Jurassic Park alongside Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum.
He would reprise the role in Jurassic Park III in 2001, and again in Jurassic World Dominion just four years ago.
He has recently worked on Godzilla x Kong: Supernova and The Last Resort, both of which are now set to be released posthumously in 2027.
On the small screen, Neill appeared in episodes of The Simpsons, Peaky Blinders, The Tudors and The Twelve.
