Sam Neill’s cause of death has been confirmed as pneumonia, two days after the actor died at 78. Philip Grenz, Neill’s longtime representative, shared the news in a statement to Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday.
Grenz said “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.” Neill, who lived on a farm in New Zealand, died on July 13. He is best known for playing paleontologist Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise.
Sam Neill’s cause of death came months after a cancer-free announcement
Neill’s death arrives only a few months after he shared that he was cancer-free following a lengthy fight with lymphoma. The actor was diagnosed with stage 3 blood cancer in 2023. He spoke openly about the diagnosis in the years since, including in an interview with The Guardian.
He told the paper, “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.” He added, “But as for the dying? I couldn’t care less.”
A career that spanned four decades
Neill became a household name in the 1990s, appearing in The Hunt for Red October in 1990, The Piano in 1993 and the original Jurassic Park that same year. His role as paleontologist Alan Grant made him one of the most recognizable faces in a franchise that has since produced five more films. He went on to star in Event Horizon in 1997 and The Horse Whisperer in 1998. In 2022, he returned to the role of Alan Grant in Jurassic World: Dominion, more than two decades after his last appearance in the series.
Neill split his time between Hollywood productions and work closer to home. He remained based in New Zealand even as his international profile grew.
Tributes followed from across Hollywood after news of his death broke. Bryce Dallas Howard, who starred alongside Neill in Jurassic World: Dominion, posted a remembrance describing him as “exactly who you hoped he’d be. Funny, warm, wickedly self-deprecating, endlessly kind. A beautiful human being who happened to also be Alan Grant.”
Howard added, “I’m so sad for the world today but especially for those who got to see him every day. He lit up every room he walked into and made the experience of being human feel dazzling.”
Grenz’s statement was the first confirmation of Sam Neill’s cause of death since news of his passing broke on Monday. Neill’s family has not set a date for the private memorial planned at his New Zealand farm.