Sam Neill caught pneumonia before his death, co-star claims
Jurassic Park star Sam Neill suffered from pneumonia in the weeks before his death, a former co-star has shared.
Neill died on July 13th, 2026, in Sydney, Australia, which was described as “sudden and unexpected, but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free” by a representative in a statement.
They also confirmed that he died “surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life”.
In 2023, Neill announced that he had been diagnosed with stage three lymphoma. However, earlier this year, the Jurassic Park star revealed that he had participated in clinical trials in Australia, which had eliminated the cancer from his body.
Now, his fellow New Zealander Rima Te Wiata, who he worked alongside on the 2016 film Hunt for the Wilderpeople, has revealed that Neill caught pneumonia before his passing.
She told the New Zealand Herald, “It really sucks, actually. I think he would be like: ‘For goodness sake, I got over my cancer. And now look, now I get pneumonia. What next?'”
Meanwhile, his former partner, Australian journalist Laura Tingle, who was in a relationship with Neill from 2018 to 2021, has also opened up about his ill health in the weeks before his death.
Tingle explained to the Sydney Mornings radio programme (via EW), “He’d been fighting various forms of cancer for at least the last five years intensively. And that takes a toll on anybody’s body.”
She added of the effects of his prior cancer battle: “He’d had a lot of chemo and a lot of immunotherapy and, thankfully, it had finally cleared him of the blood cancer that he’d had, but it left him pretty compromised in terms of his immune system and I think his poor body sort of got a bit exhausted, as makes sense.”
Tingle continued, “He’s been pretty sick for the last couple of weeks and everybody who loved him has been willing him on, from near and far. But, I think it was just a bit too much to recover from one more time.”
Neill’s family have also said in a statement, “They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More 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.”
Tributes to Neill have poured in from his former co-stars, such as Cillian Murphy, who he worked with on Peaky Blinders, and Laura Dern, who starred alongside him in Jurassic Park.
Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg said that “Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
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