Devastating new details reveal Hollywood actor Sam Neill reportedly sick with pneumonia before sudden death

New details about Sam Neill’s health have been revealed just one day after his sudden and unexpected death shocked the entertainment world.

The 78-year-old Hollywood heavyweight died on Monday surrounded by his beloved family inside Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, four years after his blood cancer diagnosis.

While his family confirmed he remained cancer-free at the time of his death, it’s now been revealed that the Jurassic Park star was sick with pneumonia.

A friend and co-star told The New Zealand Herald that he had the infection, which causes inflamed air sacs in one or both lungs, before his death.

Symptoms include a cough with phlegm, fever, chills, and difficulty breathing. Bacteria, viruses, or fungi mainly cause it.

Journalist and former partner of Neill, Laura Tingle, said his “poor old body just sort of got a bit exhausted”.

“He’s been pretty sick for the last couple of weeks, and everybody who loved him has been willing him on from near and far, but I think it was just a bit too much to recover from one more time,” she told ABC Radio Sydney.

“He’d had a lot of chemo and a lot of immunotherapy and, thankfully, it finally cleared him of the blood cancer that he had, but that left him pretty compromised in terms of his immune system.”

The New Zealander and adopted Aussie was diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic lymphoma in 2022, which he revealed publicly in 2023.

He announced in April that a recent scan had shown he was cancer-free.

Neill’s family described his death as “sudden and unexpected”, with tributes from fellow actors, his co-stars and politicians flowing in from across the globe.

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who directed Jurassic Park, led tributes coming out of Hollywood on Tuesday, describing Neill as “exceptionally collaborative” in portraying Dr Alan Grant.

“It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children,” Spielberg said.

“I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.

“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.”

Dern, who played paleobotanist Dr Ellie Sattler and Goldblum, who played Dr Ian Malcolm, also paid tribute to their “beloved lifetime friend”.

“He showed me the depths of loyalty, protectiveness and love always with the driest of wit,” Dern said in an Instagram statement.

“He was a true and noble gentleman, wrapped up in my dream leading man. I will love you forever, Dr Alan Grant.”

Goldblum posted a photo on Instagram of the three on the set of Jurassic Park, saying: “The next great adventure begins. Love, always and forever”.

Kylie Minogue posted on Instagram “Vale Sam”, while Nicole Kidman, who co-starred with Neill in the 1989 film Dead Calm, said in a statement to US media outlets that “Sam was 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,” she said.

Jimmy Barnes was also in shock over his “dear friend’s” death, saying he “can’t believe we will no longer be eating great food together and sharing the odd glass of wine”.

“Sam was a big part of our lives. He was family. He lifted our spirits when he walked into the room. Sam was everything he appeared to be on the screen.

“Caring, funny, intelligent, charming, honest, talented, the list could go on.

“He sat with me while I recovered in hospital, and I sat with him when he needed me. We shared a lot in this life, and for that, I will always be thankful.

“Rest easy, dear Sam. You are always in our hearts.”

Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who starred alongside Neill in Peaky Blinders, said he “admired him and adored him in equal measure”.

“He was one of the kindest, funniest and gentlest people, and one of the finest actors … RIP,” he said in a statement.

Hollywood star Alec Baldwin worked with Neill on The Hunt For Red October and said he was “stricken to learn of the death”.

Neill is survived by four children and at least eight grandchildren. He spent most of his recent years on his farm in New Zealand and also owned four vineyards in Central Otago.