Sam Neill, the actor from 'Jurassic Park' and 'The Piano', dies
The interpreter also appeared in 'Peaky Blinders' and was 78 years old
BarcelonaNew Zealand actor Sam Neill (Omagh, 1947) has died at the age of 78, as reported by the family in a statement obtained by Reuters agency. With a career spanning over five decades and 150 roles, Neill was best known for starring in films such as Jurassic Park (1993), in which he played paleontologist Alan Grant. Among his most recognized performances are also the farmer in the film The Piano (1993) and Major Chester Campbell in the first two seasons of the series Peaky Blinders (2013-2014). Praised especially for his interpretive versatility, Neill's career was recognized worldwide. The film The Piano, which he starred in with Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Neill was also nominated three times for Golden Globes and once for an Emmy. In 2019 he visited Catalonia to receive the Grand Honorary Prize of the Sitges Film Festival.
Born in the South Pacific archipelago, Neill moved to Australia in the late 1970s, when his acting career began to take off. One of the first titles that marked his career was My Brilliant Career (1979), an Australian period film that competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Two years later, he played an international spy in the cult horror film Possession (1981), directed by Andrzej Zulawski, which would skyrocket his career worldwide. "It was a difficult, very demanding shoot. Zulawski was a monster but also a genius, and the film masterfully combines realism and melodrama with a fantastic element and a touch of surrealism," Neill recalled in 2019 in an interview with ARA.
Throughout the 80s, the actor cultivated a film career with titles like Ivanhoe (1982), the biopicA cry in the darkness (1988) and The hunt for Red October (1990). But 1993 was Sam Neill's big year, with two films that would make him an international star: The piano, directed by Jane Campion and awarded three Oscars, and Jurassic Park, the first of one of the most famous film sagas in history. The actor did not appear in the second part of the trilogy, but returned in 2001 with "Jurassic Park 3 and also to Jurassic World 3. Despite the success that the Jurassic saga brought him, Neill stayed away from the Hollywood frontline. "During the era of Jurassic Park he had young children and I didn't want to see them grow up in Hollywood, it's a strange place for a child. If I had stayed living in Los Angeles, maybe my career would be different, but I'm very comfortable with the one I have," explained the actor.
Evil and men in love
Neill's acting career is made, above all, of memorable protagonists in romantic films and charismatic villains like the antichrist yuppie of the third installment of The prophecy (Damien's End, 1981) or the mad scientist ofFinal horizon (1997). From the end of the last century and practically until now, the actor did not stop working. Some of his most outstanding titles are At the heart of fear (1994), The bicentennial man (1999), The moon live (2000) and Perfect strangers (2003). In 1986 he was one of the possible candidates to play James Bond replacing Roger Moore, and Neill even auditioned for it. In the end, the role was given to Timothy Dalton. "I didn't really want to be James Bond, but my agent forced me to audition. I'm glad I didn't get the part, to be honest. It would have ruined my career," he said in 2019.
In recent decades, Neill has worked primarily in television. One of the most relevant roles of these years is the character of the corrupt inspector Chester Campbell in the series "Peaky Blinders. The actor has also made appearances in The Tudors (2007) and The Twelve (2021). In 2023, the actor publicly revealed that he had been diagnosed with advanced blood cancer. Just last April, Neill appeared in an interview on the Australian channel 7 News to announce that, after undergoing treatment for five years, he was cancer-free. "It's time to make a new movie," he said at the time. Neill has two films pending release: L'últim recurs and Godzilla x Kong: Supernova.
