Three years before his passing, said he was unafraid of death but hopeful he would be able to continue living for 'another decade or two.'
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Sam Neills Chilling Death Comments Before Passing
Three years before his passing, Sam Neill said he was unafraid of death but hopeful he would be able to continue living for 'another decade or two.' It was anno...
passed away in hospital just months after he revealed he was 'cancer-free' following a battle with a type of blood .
In 2023, Neill opened up about his illness with The Guardian - admitting 'it would annoy' him should he die due to the abundance in his life.
'I’m not afraid to die,' he told The Guardian in 2023, 'but it would annoy me. Because I’d really like another decade or two, you know? 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 lovely little grandchildren. I want to see them get big.
'But as for the dying? I couldn’t care less.'
The New Zealand-born actor - who starred in blockbusters such as Jurassic Park - was taken to hospital in before his 'sudden and unexpected' death.
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Three years before his passing, Sam Neill said he was unafraid of death but still had so much to live for
In confirming his death, Sam's family's statement read: 'It is with immense sadness that the whānau (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 played Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise (pictured)
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'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 said at the time.
The treatment is currently in clinical trials to treat another blood cancer, myeloma.
Neill also said he was planning to make a return to acting. 'It's time I did another movie,' he said.
Neill first went public with his cancer diagnosis in 2023 after being diagnosed with cancer the previous year, after initially experiencing swollen glands.
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He found out about as his stage-three blood cancer while he promoted Jurassic World Dominion in 2022.
In that film he reprised his role as Grant alongside original co-stars Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum alongside Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Neill was born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Ireland and his family moving to New Zealand in 1954. Pictured in Cannes in 2008
He told Australian Story at the time: 'I'm not in any way frightened of dying. That doesn't worry me. It's never worried me from the beginning, but I would be annoyed.
'I'd be annoyed because there are things I still want to do. Very irritating, dying. But I'm not afraid of it.'
Neill, who was born in Northern Ireland to an English mother and a New Zealander father, first disclosed the news of his illness in his memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This, where he writes in the first chapter that he is 'possibly dying'.
Reflecting on life at the time, the seasoned actor once again said that he did not fear death, admitting, 'I'm not afraid to die. But it would annoy me. Because I'd really like another decade or two, you know?'
