The global film industry is remembering Sam Neill as a giant of the sector after his sudden death, with no cause yet shared.

The New Zealand actor was surrounded by family when he died in Sydney on Monday, triggering a wave of tributes led by prime ministers, actors and film groups.

Neill’s death was confirmed by his family in a social media post.

“The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free,” according to a post on Neill’s official Instagram account.

“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.”

“Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life,” his family wrote.

Director Steven Spielberg said he “adored” making all the Jurassic movies with Neill.

“Sam was exceptionally collaborative,” Spielberg said in a statement paying tribute.

“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.”

Neill earned a “special place in Australian hearts”, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said of the 78-year-old.

“Wry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humour and conviction that gave strength to his every performance,” Albanese posted on social media.

“He will be much mourned and long remembered. May he rest in peace.”

Sam Neill played palaeontologist Doctor Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park franchise. Photo: AAP

The Kiwi actor, who featured prominently in Australian films in a storied career that included roles in blockbusters Jurassic Park and Peaky Blinders, was remembered as “one of the greats” by New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

“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,” Luxon said.

American director Colin Trevorrow, who worked with Neill on reviving the Jurassic Park franchise, described him as a “beautiful man”.

Screen Producers Australia said his contribution for pushing Pacific stories globally was immeasurable with an indelible legacy left behind.

“Sam Neill was one of the great figures of Australian and New Zealand screen,” the body said in a statement.

“His extraordinary talent and professionalism enriched countless productions and inspired generations of filmmakers and performers.”

Comedian and cancer survivor Magda Szubanksi offered an emotional tribute to her friend.

“I really don’t have any words right now. I’m in complete shock. Last time we spoke he was going so well. My heart ​goes out to his family and all who love him – and ​there are ⁠so many of us. Vale my darling friend.”

Neill was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in March 2022.

In April, he announced his cancer-free status after taking part in an Australian clinical trial.

He is survived by four children and eight grandchildren.

Remarkable range

Sam Neill was a smoothly elegant and versatile actor whose career moved from art film to blockbuster as he dodged velociraptors in Jurassic Park to playing Holly Hunter’s husband in The Piano, has died. He was 78.

Neil was one of a host of actors and directors who achieved international fame after an explosion of Australian films that began in the late 1970s, a list that includes Paul Hogan, Mel Gibson, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, Jane Campion, Peter Weir and Gillian Armstrong.

His range was remarkable, playing opposite Helena Bonham Carter in the Alan Ayckbourn comedy Sweet Revenge to chopping off Hunter’s finger in The Piano to poking his own eyes out in the sci-fi horror Event Horizon.

Sam Neill portraying the character Alisdair Stewart in The Piano, 1993. Photo: Mary Evans Picture Library / AAP

In Omen III: The Final Conflict, he played Damien the Antichrist and he also played Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in The Tudors.

The actor first came to the attention of international audiences in Armstrong’s 1979 film My Brilliant Career, which also introduced Judy Davis. He later appeared in Phillip Noyce’s Dead Calm, a classy thriller set at sea and co-starring the then-relatively unknown Nicole Kidman.

Neill twice co-starred with Meryl Streep, in Australian director Fred Schepisi’s Plenty and — again for Schepisi — in A Cry in the Dark, a film about the sensationalised aftermath of a dingo killing a baby in the Australian Outback.

He earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the title role of the 1998 mini-series Merlin and another as narrator of 2017’s Wild New Zealand.

But perhaps he achieved his highest level of fame in Jurassic Park playing paleontologist Alan Grant, who is summoned to an island off Costa Rica where a theme park has been built to house herds of cloned dinosaurs. He co-starred alongside Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough.

His character was thoughtful and reasonable, a scientist who warned the mastermind of the theme park before the chaos: “Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?”

Grant survived the harrowing events when the creatures get loose, but didn’t return for The Lost World: Jurassic Park II in 1997. He came back for the third episode in 2001 and Jurassic World: Dominion in 2022.

“It’s probably a little late to learn these things,” he told the Daily New of New York in 2001, “but I finally feel I’ve worked out how to be an action hero. I’m happier with Grant this time. He’s gnarly and grizzled, but he looks like he knows what he’s doing.”

Sam Neill teamed up with Aussie actor Bryan Brown a number of times in film and TV projects. Photo: AAP

Born in 1947 in Northern Ireland, Neill emigrated to New Zealand at the age of seven. His family settled in Dunedin on the South Island and he was sent to boarding school in Christchurch.

After college, he took the lead in Sleeping Dogs in 1977, the first feature made in New Zealand in more than a decade.

Neill’s other film roles included playing a Soviet submarine officer who memorably dreams of a home in Montana in The Hunt for Red October and an investigator in director John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness.

On the small screen, Neill played the malign Chester Campbell in TV’s Peaky Blinders and Thomas Jefferson in the four-hour CBS miniseries, Sally Hemings: An American Tragedy.

On Apple TV+, he was on Invasion, playing Oklahoma Sheriff John Bell Tyson, a man late in his career searching for his purpose. In 2024 he starred opposite Annette Bening in the Peacock series Apples Never Fall.

Neill was also a vintner and under his Two Paddocks brand, he produced pinot noir and riesling wines from his winery in the Central Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island.

On social media, he often posted images of his farm animals, many of them affectionately named after celebrities and friends, like Laura Dern the chicken, Kylie Minogue the duck and Helena Bonham Carter the cow.

His memoir Did I Ever Tell You This? came out in March 2023 and he was awarded a knighthood in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to film”, a title approved by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

“I can’t pretend that the last year hasn’t had its dark moments,” Neill told The Guardian in 2023, referring to his cancer diagnosis and treatment.

“But those dark moments throw the light into sharp relief, you know, and have made me grateful for every day and immensely grateful for all my friends.”

He is survived by four children and eight grandchildren.

—with AAP