Neill's career ran five decades deep, and it's hard to sum up in one line.He started out in New Zealand cinema in the late 1970s with "Sleeping Dogs," then broke through internationally in the 1983 miniseries "Reilly,Ace of Spies." From there it was "The Hunt for Red October," Jane Campion's "The Piano," Taika Waititi's "Hunt for the Wilderpeople," and of course six Jurassic movies where he kept dodging dinosaurs decade after decade.He also played Chester Campbell on "Peaky Blinders" for two seasons,a role fans still bring up constantly online.Steven Spielberg, who directed him in the original "Jurassic Park," said in a statement that Neill was exceptionally collaborative and that he'd never be forgotten by his Jurassic family or his fans.Laura Dern called him a beloved lifetime friend.
Born Nigel John Dermot Neill in Northern Ireland in 1947,he moved to New Zealand's South Island at age seven and picked up the name Sam as a kid, mostly because there were too many other Nigels around at school.He was knighted by New Zealand in 2022 and had earlier received an OBE back in 1991,an honor he once said he got to share with his father before he died.Off screen, Neill spent a lot of time on his Central Otago vineyard, making Pinot Noir under the label Two Paddocks and naming farm animals after his famous friends,a hen called Laura Dern among them.He is survived by two sons and two daughters.
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