Sam Neill, 'Jurassic Park' star, dies at 78 after cancer-free reveal

Sam Neill, the actor best known for playing Dr. Alan Grant in the "Jurassic Park" franchise, has died. He was 78.

Neill's family announced his "sudden and unexpected" death on the actor's Instagram account on Monday, July 13.

"It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia," the post stated, using the Māori word for extended family. "Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life."

In April, Neill had announced that he was cancer-free after undergoing a clinical trial in Australia. He had been diagnosed with stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare blood cancer, in 2022.

While the death was sudden, Neill's family wrote that they were "blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free" and expressed "their deepest gratitude" to hospital staff "for their incredible care."

"More details will be shared later," the Instagram post read. "But for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss."

Sam Neill's acclaimed TV and movie roles, breakout in 'Jurassic Park'

Born in the town of Omagh in Northern Ireland on Sept. 14, 1947, Nigel John Dermot Neill moved to New Zealand at 7 years old when his father retired from the army and wanted to return home.

At 11, he changed his name to Sam because – as he wrote in his 2023 memoir "Did I Ever Tell You This?" – "to land in a primary school with a plum in the voice and Nigel for a name was asking for trouble."

Neill exploded into superstardom as the gruff but undeniably lovable paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant in Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster "Jurassic Park." He reprised the role in "Jurassic Park III" (2001) as well as "Jurassic World Dominion" (2022).

He also starred in films including "The Hunt for Red October," "The Piano," "Event Horizon," "The Horse Whisperer" and "Bicentennial Man."

Neill reunited with his original "Jurassic Park" co-stars Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum in a nostalgic Xfinity commercial that aired during the Super Bowl in 2026. The actor took a humorous selfie with a T-Rex in the ad.

On TV, Neill earned widespread acclaim for projects such as "Reilly, Ace of Spies," "Merlin," "The Tudors" and a villainous two-season arc in "Peaky Blinders," in which he played ruthless detective Chester Campbell. In 2024, Neill starred as retired tennis coach Stan Delaney in the Peacock limited series mystery drama "Apples Never Fall."

He collected Golden Globe nominations for "Reilly, Ace Of Spies," "Merlin" (which also netted him an Emmy nomination) and "One Against The Wind."

Neill was a respected vocal artist who guest-starred on Season 4 of "Rick and Morty," voicing an alien whose species tries to take over Earth using a dating app.

Sam Neill was 'not afraid of dying' after cancer diagnosis, remission

Neill revealed in "Did I Ever Tell You This?" that he was fighting stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. At the time, Neill said he had been in remission for a year and keeping busy with film and TV projects as well as his New Zealand vineyard.

Neill shared in a 2023 short documentary for Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Australian Story program that he was receiving infusions of a drug that his tumor was responding to effectively. He said he would keep the procedure going indefinitely.

It's like "going 10 rounds with a boxer, but it's keeping me alive, and being alive is infinitely preferable to the alternative," Neill said.

He also said that "I'm not, in any way, frightened of dying. It's never worried me from the beginning. But I would be annoyed because there are things I still want to do."

Neill added, "Very irritating, dying. But I'm not afraid of it."

Neill is survived by two sons and two daughters.

Contributing: Lucy Craymer, Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sam Neill, 'Jurassic Park' star, dies at 78 after cancer-free reveal

Reporting by Bryan Alexander and KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 10:27 AM.