“Jurassic Park” star Sam Neill died from pneumonia after successfully overcoming lymphoma with CAR-T therapy, his representative confirmed Thursday, correcting what he described as inaccurate reports that emerged after the Oscar-nominated actor’s death earlier this week.
Neill’s agent, Philip Grenz, said the actor’s family asked him to clarify how the 78-year-old died after several outlets published inaccurate accounts. He also said Neill, who was known for fiercely guarding his privacy, will be remembered with a private family memorial at his New Zealand farm at a later date.
“Sam passed away from pneumonia,” Grenz told the New York Post’s Page Six. “Prior to becoming sick, Sam had valiantly fought and beaten lymphoma through a new treatment called CAR-T therapy.”
ACCLAIMED NEW ZEALAND ACTOR SAM NEILL CONTRACTED PNEUMONIA BEFORE HE DIED, CO-STAR SAYS
Grenz said Neill had also completed four “back-to-back” projects over the past year that are expected to be released in the coming months.
Neill’s family announced Monday that the actor died at St. Vincent’s Private Hospital in Sydney, Australia.
“Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life,” the family said in a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram account. “The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.”
The New Zealand actor disclosed in 2023 that he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In April, he announced he was cancer-free after treatment.
“I’ve just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body. That’s an extraordinary thing,” Neill said at the time. “I’m very, very excited that this can happen.”
Friends and co-stars remembered Neill as a grounded, witty and deeply private man who never let his illness slow him down.
Rima Te Wiata, who appeared alongside Neill in the 2016 comedy “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” told The New Zealand Herald he was “a very steady, peaceful, grounded man.”
“It really sucks actually,” Te Wiata said. “I think he would be like: ‘For goodness sake, I got over my cancer. And now look, now I get pneumonia. What next?'”
Hollywood stars also paid tribute to Neill following his death. Steven Spielberg, who directed him as paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant in the 1993 blockbuster “Jurassic Park,” said the actor would never be forgotten.
“I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him,” Spielberg said. “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.”
Dern called Neill “my beloved lifetime friend,” while Goldblum wrote, “The next great adventure begins. Love, always and forever.”
Born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Northern Ireland in 1947, Neill moved to New Zealand with his family as a child and went on to become one of the country’s biggest international stars.
His breakout role came in the 1977 thriller “Sleeping Dogs.” Over a career spanning more than five decades, he appeared in more than 150 film and television productions, including “The Hunt for Red October,” “The Piano,” “Event Horizon,” “The Horse Whisperer,” “Peaky Blinders,” “The Tudors” and “Merlin.”
Neill returned as Dr. Alan Grant in “Jurassic Park III” before reuniting with Dern and Goldblum for 2022’s “Jurassic World Dominion.”
When he wasn’t acting, Neill spent much of his time at Two Paddocks, his boutique vineyard in New Zealand’s Central Otago region, where he produced pinot noir and riesling wines.
He is survived by four children and eight grandchildren.
Fox News Digital’s James Cirrone, Landon Mion and Christina Dugan Ramirez, along with The Associated Press contributed to this report.
