‘A true gentleman’: actors, directors and leaders pay tribute to Sam Neill

Fellow actors, directors and admirers have all paid tribute to Sam Neill, pictured here during the Peaky Blinders Festival in Birmingham in 2019. Neill died on Monday aged 78, his family said in a statement. Photograph: Jacob King/PA View image in fullscreen Fellow actors, directors and admirers have all paid tribute to Sam Neill, pictured here during the Peaky Blinders Festival in Birmingham in 2019. Neill died on Monday aged 78, his family said in a statement. Photograph: Jacob King/PA ‘A true gentleman’: actors, directors and leaders pay tribute to Sam Neill The star of more than 100 films is remembered as a champion of New Zealand’s arts, culture and environment, and a generous collaborator and friend Sam Neill, star of Jurassic Park films and The Piano, dies aged 78 Sam Neill’s 20 best roles Sam Neill’s friends, peers and admirers have rushed to pay tribute to the actor, after his sudden death on Monday at the age of 78. Australian director Phillip Noyce, who directed Neill in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm alongside Nicole Kidman, told the Guardian: “Sam was perhaps the most gentlemanly actor ​I ever encountered. Level-headed and sincere in a show business world of crazy egos. His word was his contract.” “​In a strange way Sam was responsible for my long career in Hollywood. When there were rumours that George Miller might have secretly directed Dead Calm, Sam assured the American producer​, Mace Neufeld​, that I was indeed the director –​ and Mace then signed me to direct Harrison Ford in Patriot Games,” Noyce added. Actor Magda Szubanski, a friend who Neill once named one of his ducks after, said she was “absolutely shocked” by his death. “When I spoke to him not long ago, he was cancer-free and really happy and excited about life, so this is just devastating,” she said. “He was just a one-off. Just such a talented, classy, beautiful, wry, warm human being.” Actor David Wenham said that “aside from being an international all-round legend”, Neill was “the kindest, cheekiest, most generous and supportive friend going around”. The New Zealand prime minister, Christopher Luxon, said Neill was one of the greats. “He started out when there was barely a film industry in this country to speak of,” Luxon said in a social media post. “For more than 50 years he took New Zealand stories to the world and his talents helped make our film industry into what it is today – one of our greatest cultural exports. His work will be watched and loved long after all of us.” Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the actor, writing on X: “Sam Neill starred in so many beloved Australian stories and he earned a special place in Australian hearts. Wry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humour and conviction that gave strength to his every performance. He will be much mourned and long remembered. May he rest in peace.” Novelist Kathy Lette said Neill’s unexpected death was heartbreaking: “Sam was not just a won