Looking back at the times late actor Sam Neill filmed in Hollywood North

Tributes pour in for the New Zealand star of Jurassic Park films who was filming in Vancouver just last summer

We independently select everything we recommend. Buying through us may earn us a commission, which supports our work. Neill, who had previously been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had announced in April that he was cancer-free, died at his home in Sydney, Australia, on July 13.

His family said “the loss was sudden and unexpected” and that he died “surrounded by family, and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life.” Neill, whose resume included Hollywood blockbusters and critically acclaimed films including My Brilliant Career and the Hunt for The Wilderpeople, was in Vancouver and Hope last summer shooting the Netflix series Untamed. During his downtime from shooting, he was spotted all over the city enjoying the downtown sights and the local arts scene.

The actor, who was born in Ireland but grew up in New Zealand, posted about his Vancouver adventures regularly on his social media accounts, including posting in August of last year that he had a “great week” enjoying the Vancouver shows of George Thorogood, Robert Plant, JD Mcpherson, and Alison Krauss. Before shooting Untamed, Neill, worked in Hollywood North on the Apple TV+ 2021 series Invasion, as well as the 2012 Fox series Alcatraz, and the 2008 film Iron Road. After his death, tributes poured in for the Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated actor.

Nicole Kidman, who starred alongside Neill in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm, called him “one of the greats.” “We met when I was just 18 and he took me under his wing and we stayed friends for life. He was charming, kind, funny and intelligent.

He will be greatly missed, and my heart goes out to his family,” said Kidman in a Sydney Morning Herald story. Director Steven Spielberg, who worked with Neill on two Jurassic movies: Jurassic Park (1993) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022), told Variety he owed a debt of gratitude to the casting people that brought Neill to Spielberg’s attention for the role of Dr. Alan Grant. Neill also appeared in 2001’s Jurassic Park III.

“I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him,” Spielberg said. “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our ‘Jurassic’ family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.” Neill’s Peaky Blinders co-star Cillian Murphy issued a statement calling him “one of the kindest, funniest and gentlest people, and one of the finest actors ...

Like everyone who knew and worked with Sam, I admired him and adored him in equal measure ... RIP.” New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon described Neill as “one of the greats,” and Australian PM Anthony Albanese noted Neill had “earned a special place in Australian hearts.”

Neill, who also held U.K. citizenship, was knighted in October 2022 when he was officially re-designated as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his outstanding services to film. Before the honour, he was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM) in 2007 and was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1991.