Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill dies at 78

3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jul 13, 2026 12:47 PM IST

Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill dies at 78.

New Zealand actor Sam Neill, best known for his memorable roles as Dr. Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 seminal action adventure film Jurassic Park, has died at the age of 78. Though he was diagnosed with stage-3 blood cancer in 2022, he was declared cancer-free earlier this year in April. A statement by Neill’s family on his Instagram handle stated on Monday, “The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.”

“It is with immense sadness that the whānau 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,” a message shared on his Instagram handle said.

Neill started his career with Roger Donaldson’s 1977 New Zealand action thriller Sleeping Dogs. That fetched him a number of leading roles in his country’s films, before he gained international prominence as scientist Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. He reprised that role in future instalments of the mega franchise — Joe Johnston’s Jurassic Park III (2001) and most recently, Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

Neill received his maiden Golden Globe nomination in 1985 for ‘Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television’ for Reilly: Ace of Spices. He received the second one for One Against the Wind in 1992, followed by the third one in 1999 for the titular role in Merlin.

He’s also been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award twice — for Merlin in 1998 and for Outstanding Narrator in 2017 for New Zealand: Earth’s Mythical Islands. He had an extensive career on television as well, most notably playing Major Chester Campbell in the first two seasons of Steven Knight’s period crime drama Peaky Blinders in 2013-14.

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Interestingly, Neill was one of the leading contenders to replace the late legendary actor Roger Moore as the iconic spy James Bond in the 1980s, but lost the opportunity to Timothy Dalton. Neill was last seen on screen as Paul Souter in Mark L Smith and Elle Smith’s Netflix crime show Untamed last year. His casting in Grant Sputore’s upcoming monster movie Godzilla x Kong: Supernova had also been announced.

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Neill was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British empire in 1991 for his services to acting and a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM) in 2007. It was later converted to a knighthood, and gained the title sir in 2022.