{"id":7576,"date":"2026-07-16T11:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7576"},"modified":"2026-07-16T11:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T06:12:17","slug":"jurassic-park-peaky-blinders-star-sam-neill-cause-of-death-revealed-after-actor-suddenly-and-unexpectedly-died-at-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7576","title":{"rendered":"Jurassic Park &#038; Peaky Blinders star Sam Neill cause of death revealed after actor &#8216;suddenly and unexpectedly&#8217; died at 78"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div 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https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-dyovffekg-1784181580451.jpg?resize=90,60&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all 90w, https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-dyovffekg-1784181580451.jpg?resize=120,80&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all 120w, https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-dyovffekg-1784181580451.jpg?resize=960,640&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all 960w, https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-dyovffekg-1784181580451.jpg?resize=620,413&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all 620w, https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-dyovffekg-1784181580451.jpg?resize=150,100&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all 150w, https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-dyovffekg-1784181580451.jpg?resize=1620,1080&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all 1620w, https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-dyovffekg-1784181580451.jpg?resize=50,33&amp;quality=90&amp;strip=all 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>JURASSIC Park and Peaky Blinders star Sam Neill\u2019s cause of death was pneumonia, his agent has confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>The New Zealand actor passed away in hospital on Monday at the age of 78 after a\u00a0\u201csudden and unexpected\u201d illness.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16698718\" class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-caption alignnone aligncenter\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span>Sam Neill\u2019s cause of death was pneumonia, his agent has confirmed<\/span> <span class=\"credit\">Credit: Alamy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16681728\" class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-caption alignnone aligncenter\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span>Sam starred as Dr. Alan Grant in the 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park<\/span> <span class=\"credit\">Credit: Alamy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Long-time agent Philip Grenz released a statement confirming the pneumonia diagnosis on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>He said he spoke to Sam\u2019s grieving family and agreed they needed to clear up \u201cinaccurate and outright falsehoods\u201d around his death.<\/p>\n<div class=\"single__inline-module inline-module inline-module--newsletter aligncenter inline-module--thesun aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-newsletter\" data-source-unit=\"Inline Newsletter Module Entertainment\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__title-wrapper\">\n<p><h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the <span class=\"newsletter-name theme-entertainment\">Entertainment<\/span> newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you!\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A family statement announcing Sam\u2019s death at the start of the week read: \u201cThe loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer- free. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent\u2019s Private Hospital for their incredible care.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16682148\" class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-caption alignnone aligncenter\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span>The Kiwi actor battled blood cancer since 2022, pictured here during treatment<\/span> <span class=\"credit\">Credit: Sam Neill<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16681725\" class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-caption alignnone aligncenter\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span>The legendary actor appeared in the hit British show Peaky Blinders<\/span> <span class=\"credit\">Credit: Alamy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cMore 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sam was diagnosed with stage three blood cancer in 2022 while promoting Jurassic World Dominion,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/entertainment\/16287990\/sam-neill-cancer-free-after-life-saving-treatment\/\">but underwent pioneering treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When he revealed his cancer, Sam said he wasn\u2019t afraid of dying despite fighting with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma \u2014 a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.<\/p>\n<p>In his final few weeks, the Kiwi actor posted several life updates where he was seen beaming at an awards show\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/entertainment\/16682157\/sam-neill-final-photo-jurassic-park-star\/\">in his last Instagram photo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The acting stalwart, who was born in\u00a0Northern Ireland\u00a0but grew up in\u00a0New Zealand, is best known for playing Dr Alan Grant in the dinosaur franchise, beginning in 1993.<\/p>\n<p>His successful movie and\u00a0television\u00a0career spans five decades and includes varied roles from The Piano, to The Zookeeper and even\u00a0Peaky Blinders.<\/p>\n<p>Sam shot to international fame after an explosion of Australian films from the late 1970s onwards launched the careers of several actors and directors.<\/p>\n<p>Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to Neil as \u201cwry and dry, thoughtful and laconic\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He wrote on X: \u201cSam Neill starred in so many beloved Australian stories and he earned a special place in Australian hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sam is survived by four children \u2013 Tim, Andrew, Elena and Waiko.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JURASSIC Park and Peaky Blinders star Sam Neill\u2019s cause of death was pneumonia, his agent has confirmed. The New Zealand actor passed away in hospital on Monday at the age of 78 after a\u00a0\u201csudden and unexpected\u201d illness. Sam Neill\u2019s cause of death was pneumonia, his agent has confirmed Credit: Alamy Sam starred as Dr. Alan&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/07\/newspress-collage-dyovffekg-1784181580451.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&1784167389&w=1920&h=1080&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}