Vale Sam Neill

14 September 1947 – 13 July 2026

By all accounts from those who knew him, Sam Neill was a thoroughly decent chap, a movie star without any of the trappings of ego or narcissism. He was a dependable leading man (‘Dead Calm’), or second-in-command (‘The Hunt for Red October’), but he was quite accomplished in villainous or morally ambiguous roles as well (‘The Piano’, ‘Event Horizon’). For example, as Old Scratch in ‘The Final Conflict,’ he manages to give quite a good performance, despite the prevailing silliness.

He made a lot of films and television shows we’ve never seen, but here are some of our favourites of his:

My Brilliant Career (1979)

Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983) (12 episodes)

Dead Calm (1989)

 

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

Death in Brunswick (1991)

The Piano (1993)

Event Horizon (1997), where as the mad scientist, he uses a pencil and paper to explain relativity.

Dean Spanley (2008)

Neill announced in 2023 that he was suffering from a form of lymphatic cancer, for which he had undergone chemotherapy. The treatment was unsuccessful, after which he tried CAR T cell therapy, a radical new targeted treatment. He may have been the first to have this (he said, call me ‘Patient Zero.’). His death in a Sydney hospital yesterday was a shock as far as his large and admiring public were concerned.