veteran actor Sam NeillAustralia’s former partner, Australian political journalist Laura Tingle, has opened up about his final days, revealing the actor had become “quite ill” in the weeks leading up to his death despite being declared cancer-free earlier this year.Neill died on Monday at the age of 78. He had announced in April that he was cancer-free after battling angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a rare form of blood cancer.
Laura Tingle remembers Sam Neill’s final days
Speaking on Sydney Mornings with host Hamish Macdonald, Tingle, who dated Neill from 2018 to 2021 following his split from wife Noriko Watanabe, reflected on the actor’s long health battle.“He has been battling various forms of cancer vigorously for at least the past five years. And that takes its toll on anyone’s body,” he said.Explaining how the years of treatment had taken a toll on him, Tingle added: “He had done a lot of chemotherapy and a lot of immunotherapy and thankfully it had finally cleared him of the blood cancer he had, but it left him quite compromised in terms of his immune system and I think his poor body was a bit depleted, which makes sense.”She continued: “So, he’s been quite ill for the past two weeks and he’s been wanted by all who loved him, from near and far. But, I think, it was a little too much to recover from once more.”
“He loved to work”
Tingle also reflected on Neill’s passion for acting, recalling comments she made during her 2023 interview with Australian Story, where she admitted she was not afraid of dying, but would be “upset” because there was still so much to do.“I think it was definitely where he was at,” she said. “He loved to work. He defined himself largely by being on a movie set. He used to say, ‘I’m a workaholic.’ And I think it was.”He added that acting became central to Neill’s identity after he unexpectedly found his way into the profession.“When he, by his own admission, fell into acting, that kind of sense of always being in motion, always becoming someone else, it was such a big part of who he was,” Tingle said. “And he was so good at it.”
The family remembers the actor
After his death, Neill’s family shared a heartfelt statement, revealing that he died surrounded by loved ones.“Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his entire life,” the statement said.“The loss was sudden and unexpected, but blessed that Sam has remained cancer free. They wish to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”Best known for his performances in Jurassic Park, Merlin and numerous acclaimed film and television projects, Neill is survived by his four children, eight grandchildren and a legacy celebrated by colleagues including Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman, Cillian Murphy and Steven Spielberg.