More details come to light about Jurassic Park star Sam Neill’s death. It’s been revealed that the actor was “pretty sick” in his final weeks. He was known to be battling blood cancer in his later years, but was cancer-free in his final moments, as shared by his family.
What is the update on Sam Neill’s final weeks?
Neill’s ex, Laura Tingle, an Australian journalist, commented about what the final weeks before his death looked like while appearing on the Sydney Mornings radio show (via Entertainment Weekly).
“He’d been fighting various forms of cancer for at least the last five years intensively,” said Tingle. “And that takes a toll on anybody’s body….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. So, 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.”
In a separate statement, actor Rima Te Wiata, who shared the screen with Neill in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, revealed that the latter had caught pneumonia before his death (via The New Zealand Herald). Following his death, Neill’s family shared that the actor’s passing was “sudden and unexpected”. The family also shared that more details will be revealed at a later date.
In the wake of Neill’s passing, several of his co-stars have offered their tributes. That includes his Jurassic Park co-stars Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern, who remembered the actor on social media. In a heartfelt message, Dern praised Neill’s humanitarian qualities. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg also spoke highly of his experience working with Neill. Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy also called him one of the finest actors in his tribute, while Nicole Kidman shared that Neill was “a joy to be around” in a statement.
