Sam Neill, who is best known for his role as Dr. Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park series, died on Monday, July 13, at the age of 78.
His cause of death has officially been revealed.
The actor died of pneumonia, according to a statement from his representative, Philip Grenz.
“Sam passed away from pneumonia. Prior to becoming sick, Sam had valiantly fought and beaten lymphoma through a new treatment called CAR-T therapy. In addition to running his award-winning winery, Two Paddocks, Sam had filmed four projects back-to-back during the past year, all of which will be released within the coming months,” Grenz said, per The Guardian.
Neill’s friend and Hunt for the Wilderpeople co-star Rima Te Wiata also revealed earlier this week during an interview (per The New Zealand Herald) that he had been battling pneumonia.
“It really sucks actually,” Te Wiata said. “As he said in the press once, he’s not scared of death but he would be annoyed. He would be like, ‘Oh for goodness sake I just got over my cancer and now look, now I get pneumonia. What next? But he’s on his big journey now’.”
Grenz went on to describe the actor as “an intensely private man who loathed a fuss”. Because of that, a private memorial will be held at his farm in New Zealand on a later date with only his family in attendance.
“I’d like to thank those who were truly close to Sam for considering his privacy with the respect he earned and his loved ones need and deserve during this immeasurably difficult time,” Grenz continued, adding that for fans who want to honor the actor’s legacy, they should make donations to “one of the causes he cared about most deeply.”
That includes the Dunstan Hospital Foundation in Central Otago, the Snowdome Foundation, as well as other New Zealand charities focused on protecting the environment.
Neill previously battled cancer, having been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, which is a type of blood cancer, in March 2022, but was “cancer-free” when he died.