Sam Neill’s rep has shared new details about the beloved actor’s shocking death earlier this week.
The Jurassic Park star passed away at age 78 on Monday, July 13 — just two months after he announced that he was cancer-free. In a new statement on Thursday via Entertainment Weekly, his longtime representative Philip Grenz confirmed Neill’s cause of death, funeral plans, and what fans can still expect from the beloved star’s final screen appearances.
The statement confirms earlier reports that the Peaky Blinders alum died of pneumonia after battling — and beating — cancer for four years, which left his immune system compromised.
Grenz also said Neill’s family will hold a private memorial at his New Zealand farm at a later date and offered fans another meaningful way to honour him.
Instead of sending flowers, the family shared that the best way to honour Neill was that “donations be made to one of the causes he cared about most deeply.”
This includes The Dunstan Hospital Foundation, The Snowdome Foundation, or New Zealand charities dedicated to protecting wildlife and the environment.
Grenz also revealed that Neill completed four projects over the past year that will be released in the coming months, including the romantic comedy The Last Resort with Daisy Ridley and Alden Ehrenreich, as well as Godzilla x Kong: Supernova.
Just two months before his family announced his “sudden and expected” death, Neill announced that he was officially cancer-free. While appearing on Australia’s 7NEWS in April, the actor celebrated a clean scan after receiving a new treatment called CAR-T therapy.
Neill is survived by four children and eight grandchildren, whom he shares with Noriko Watanabe. The former couple married in 1989 and separated in 2007.
