Sam Neill passed away after battling pneumonia
Jurassic Park star Sam Neill died after reportedly contracting pneumonia as his body struggled to bounce back following his cancer treatment.
Sam Neill died after reportedly contracting pneumonia.
The Jurassic Park star passed away on Monday (13.07.26) just months after he was deemed "cancer-free" following a battle with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma with his loved ones describing his death as "sudden and unexpected" - and now a new report has suggested the 78-year-old succumbed to a bout of pneumonia after being left weakened by his gruelling cancer treatments .
According to the New Zealand Herald's Ryan Bridge, Sam's The Hunt for the Wilderpeople co-star and longtime friend Rima Te Wiata confirmed the actor had been struck down by the deadly lung condition.
Sam's former partner ex-partner Laura Tingle told ABC Radio Sydney the actor's immune system had been compromised and it left him vulnerable to infections.
She said: "[His] poor old body just sort of got a bit exhausted. He’s been pretty sick for the last couple of weeks, and everybody who loved him has been willing him on from near and far, but I think it was just a bit too much to recover from one more time.
"He’d had a lot of chemo and a lot of immunotherapy and, thankfully, it finally cleared him of the blood cancer that he had, but that left him pretty compromised in terms of his immune system."
Sam's death was announced by his family in a statement posted on his social media account, which read: "It is with immense sadness that the whanau [family] 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."
Neill's loved ones voiced their "deepest gratitude" to the medical staff who cared for him, and promised "more details will be shared" at a later date.
The post continued: "They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. "More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss."
No cause of death has officially been given, but the loss comes just months after Sam revealed in April that he was cancer-free after being diagnosed with blood cancer in 2022.
He spoke on Australian broadcaster 7News advocating for a CAR T-cell therapy clinical trial which had focused on his type of lymphoma.
He told the network: "I’ve just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body, that’s an extraordinary thing. I’m very, very excited that this can happen."
He quipped: "It’s time I did another movie."
