Actor Sam Neill, who starred in My Brilliant Career and Jurassic Park, has died aged 78.
A post made to his social media account on Monday afternoon said he had died in Sydney “surrounded by his family”.
“The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free,” the statement, posted to Instagram, said.
Well, shit. I really liked him as an actor.
In the Mouth of Madness was such a great movie. Such an underrated performance in that.
A personal favorite, glad to see others enjoy it as well. If you like the sort of twisty, madness of unreality that evokes the best of the Mythos.
He also starred in more movies and TV shows than I could reasonably list, also including the excellent and under-appreciated Australian production Dead Calm, alongside an early film appearance by Nicole Kidman.
I most remember his appearances in Bicentennial Man and Event Horizon. DH right away also recalled Hunt for Red October.
Anyone who likes Sam, hell even anyone who doesn’t know his work, should watch The Dish. A charming little film about how a small town in Australia played an important role in the 1969 moon landing.
He had a starring role as “Sir” Martin in Bicentennial Man, Andrew’s initial owner. I enjoyed him in that role.
Sir: I wanted to tell you, I was wrong.
Andrew: You’re never wrong, sir.
Sir: Then don’t contradict me.
Great movie.
He was also great in another ‘small’ film recently, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, about a manhunt for a man and boy in the New Zealand wilderness.
Yes, a good one! Very Australian but also relatable.
I too quite liked him as an actor.
Thanks for the tip, will check it out.
He was one of those actors that, if I saw that he was in something but knew nothing about it, I would assume that it was worth watching.
And, of course, he portrayed Anthony Hopkins’s Odin in the play-within-a-play in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thor:Ragnarok.
This is sad. He’s been on my “worth watching” list since I first became aware of him in Reilly, Ace of Spies.
Which I’ve just realised was in 1983, so 43 years of Sam Neill. Would have liked more.
There was a nice documentary series in Australia called Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery, where Julia would take celebrities back to their childhood homes and talk about their early life and family and their relationship to their home towns. The Sam Neill episode was fascinating. I can’t find it online anywhere, it’s locked in the archives I guess, but if you can track it down somewhere, I recommend it.
What a loss- he was such a great presence on film. I also really enjoyed his farming tiktoks.
I’m not exactly recommending Possession, but I do think I have to rewatch it. He was terrific in one of his younger roles.
I saw this in an almost empty theater. A very weird film. But I liked him in it, as in everything I saw him in.
To me. he’ll always be Reilly, Ace of Spies, which more than makes up for the stupid miniseries Ameяika.
“I would have liked to have seen Montana.”
I remember seeing him in a TV movie of Ivanhoe when I was a kid, alongside Anthony Andrews. Wouldn’t have guessed he’d be running from dinosaurs one day.