Laura Dern Honors "Beloved Lifetime Friend" Sam Neill After His Death

Jurassic Park’s Laura Dern Honors Sam Neill After His Death

Laura Dern is remembering a dear companion.

The actress spoke out to honor her Jurassic Park costar Sam Neill—who played Dr. Alan Grant, her character Dr. Ellie Sattler's colleague and love interest in the 1993 film—after his July 13 death at the age of 78.

"Sam was my beloved lifetime friend," Dern said in a statement to E! News. "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," she added. "I will love you forever, Dr. Alan Grant."

Dern—who reprised the role of Ellie alongside Neill in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022)—had previously called reuniting with the actor a "dream come true."

"He’s just an extraordinary gentleman," she told Entertainment Tonight in 2022, "and the minute I walked [along] that dig site into the tent and there was Dr. Alan Grant, still waiting for me to show up, I was very moved. And it was very special."

Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg also shared a tribute to Neill amid news of his passing, pointing to his performances in his earlier films Sleeping Dogs, My Brilliant Career, The Final Conflict and Dead Calm as having inspired his decision to cast him in the dinosaur movie.

"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," Spielberg told Variety in a statement. "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."

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"I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him," he continued. "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."

In addition to Neill's Jurassic Park collaborators, he was also remembered by a number of others actors spanning from a variety of a projects he’s worked on.

His Apples Never Fall costar Annette Bening recalled her fantastic experience working with him as he battled angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. (His loved ones had confirmed he was cancer free at the time of his “sudden and unexpected” death.)

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"On camera the family was dysfunctional and miserable, off camera we delighted in each other’s company and still maintain a 'family' text to this day," she said in a statement given to Deadline. "Even though he was receiving treatment for lymphoma at the time, he was cheerful, hardworking, and a complete delight."

“As an actor, Sam was without artifice or frills, and his craft was rigorous,” Bening went on. "He told the truth.  When I and a colleague took a brief trip to New Zealand, Sam was kind enough to organize a helicopter trip over Milford Sound. An adventure we’ll never forget. Thanks, Sam, for the wine, the camaraderie, and so many superb performances in so many great movies.  We will miss you!"

Keep reading for a look back at Neill's life...