Sam Neill, brilliant films & tv series

Born Nigel Neill in 1947 in Omagh, Nth Ireland to an English mother and a New Zealand father serving in the British army. His family moved to Christchurch N.Z in 1954 where Sam went to school. He became Sam because there were several Nigels at school, saying “I moved more easily as a Sam”.

Sam Neill and Meryl Streep as Michael & Lindy Chamberlain,

Evil Angels, 1988

Sam Neill went on to study English literature and acting at Canterbury Uni. He began acting in Canberbury Uni productions, then moved to Wellington to the Downstage Theatre as a professional actor, being paid $35 a week. Neill acted in some tv films and shorts for New Zealand in the 70s before winning his first lead role in the locally produced thriller Sleeping Dogs 1977, receiving inter-national acclaim in the first New Zealand film to open in the US. Soon after that he landed a leading role in My Brilliant Career 1979 directed by Gillian Armstrong; played the son of the devil in Omen III 1981; in the  1988 biopic Evil Angels, as Lindy Chamberlain’s husband Michael with Meryl Streep; and in The Hunt for Red October 1990. His role in Ivanhoe 1982 boosted Neill in Sweden where the film’s on TV every New Year’s Day for 40 years. In fact he built his career as dashing romantic leads and magnetic villains. He truly arrived on the international film stage as Damien Thorn in Omen III.

 

Sam Neill & Judy Davis on My Brilliant Career, 1979 

Michael Ochs Archives

He soon moved to Australia, landing another internationally lauded role with My Brilliant Career 1979. He was one of the leading candidates to succeed Roger Moore as James Bond and screen-tested in 1986, but lost out to Timothy Dalton. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his spy role in the 1983 miniseries Reilly, Ace of Spies.

He went on to star in some films of varying success for the following 45 years, incl Dead Calm, Hunt for Red October and The Piano 1993. Neill came to widespread international attention in 1993 with his role as the New Zealand settler Alisdair Stewart in Jane Campion’s Oscar-winner The Piano. Neill, well known for his role as palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park 1993, a role originally offered to Harrison Ford. Neill played Alan Grant again in two Jurassic Park sequels. 

My favourite was The Piano. In mid-C19th a mute woman went along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a farmer in New Zealand, but was soon lusted after by a farmworker. Jane Campion was the director and it starred Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel & Sam Neill.

Dr Alan Grant and Tyrannosaurus Rex, Jurassic Park,1993, 

by Murray Close 

Neill shaped a career playing memorable romantic leads & captivating villains with 150+ credits in 50 years, incl Dead Calm 1989, Jungle Book 1994, In the Mouth of Madness 1995, Event Horizon 1997, Bicentennial Man 1999, The Dish 2000 and Peter Rabbit 2018. Neill also worked on tv, incl miniseries Merlin 1998. The Tudors mini-series 2007, as the corrupt Maj Chester Campbell in Peaky Blinders tv drama 2013 and The Twelve miniseries 2022.

Sam Neil and Holly Hunter, The Piano

Sam Neill was the New Zealand actor whose career spanned Oscar winners and famous films, so he dreaded any prospect of retirement. He won Officer of the Order of the British Empire 1991 for his services to acting and a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2007. Years later, the New Zealand’s honours system allowed recipients to convert his Order of Merit into a knighthood, Sir Sam accepted a knighthood in 2022.

Actor Rachel Griffiths, who cast Neill as Michelle Payne’s horse trainer father in her directorial debut Ride Like A Girl, also commented on social media. Two Paddocks is the label under which Neill has been making wine for decades, a pursuit he took as seriously as acting. When not working, Neill split his later years between his Surry Hills home and his farm in New Zealand, where he kept rescue animals and produced wine from his vineyard. Based in Central Otago Sth Island, it created classy pinot noirs and average Picnic range.

Aust Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on X mourned Neill’s passing. “Sam starred in so many beloved Australian stories and he earned a special place in Australian hearts. Wry and thoughtful, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humour & conviction that gave strength to his performances.

New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon said “Sam started out when there was barely a film industry in this country to speak of. For 50+ years he took New Zealand stories to the world and his talents helped make our film industry into what it is today, one of our greatest cultural exports. His work will be watched and loved long after us.” NZ’s foreign affairs minister Winston Peters said Neill was a Kiwi icon whose work in both local & Hollywood films entertained people globally for decades.

In 2023 Neill’s memoir, Did I Ever Tell You About This? revealed he'd been undergoing chemo-therapy for a year after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma blood cancer. By the time his Memoirs were published in March 2023 his cancer was in remission, but he underwent monthly chemotherapy for the rest of his life; he signed a contract with the drug company that if he was alive in 4 months, the treatment was free. Neill explained it was an aggressive form of blood cancer with fewer than half of those diagnosed surviving 5+ years. But it this was not the cause of death.

He wrote that he later went into remission after undergoing a trial with a new chemotherapy drug. In 2023 he wrote “I’m not afraid to die, but it would annoy me. Because I’d really like another decade or two. 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 6 lovely little grandchildren. I want to see them get big.”

The extended family group shared the tragic news of Sam’s passing in July in Sydney. Surrounded by family and passing with dignity, Sam was survived by 4 children & 8 grandchildren.

Martin Ferrero, Sir Richard Attenborough, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, Laura Dernin Jurassic Park,

Yahoo Life