Sam Neill interview: ‘When I am no longer about, I hope people will say I was kind’
Posted by TheTelegraph
Sam Neill interview: ‘When I am no longer about, I hope people will say I was kind’
Posted by TheTelegraph
14 Comments
*This interview was conducted in August 2025. It is being published posthumously after Sir Sam Neill died, aged 78, on July 13 2026.*
‘It was one of the more surprising statements I have recorded in my time as an arts interviewer. “I’ve always thought I’m lazy,” said Sam Neill, the star of 150 films and TV shows over his nearly 50-year career.
‘But, as I discovered during our conversation last year, the self-deprecating assessment was typical of the man. The actor, most famous for playing the palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, was widely considered to have been one of the most modest, personable and unvarnished leading men in Hollywood and, by the end of our interview, there was no doubt in my mind that reputation was well-deserved.
‘He regarded his whole career as a “fluke”, he told me, and, unlike so many others occupying his elevated position in the film industry, he seemed nothing but grateful for his gilded life.’
**Read Gregory James Wakeman’s full 2025 interview with Sam Neill in full:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2026/07/15/sam-neill-best-and-worst/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_reddit&accesscontrol=facebookchannel_open](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2026/07/15/sam-neill-best-and-worst/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_reddit&accesscontrol=facebookchannel_open)
He really was. A good man, and a great actor. A huge loss
Thank you for some of the greatest movies of all time. Sam, you are and always will be a fucking Gentleman.
I think that’s is exactly the legacy he left behind. A masterclass of a human. He will be sorely missed.
I’ve read nothing else. RIP.
We do, Sam. We absolutely do.
I am so sad he’s gone but love that all the discourse has been exactly this. A kind man, a great friend and father, animal lover and genuinely exemplary person. A stark change from other remembrances I’ve seen lately. To more Sam’s in the world.
Sam, you were awesome. Thank you for being my hero in Jurassic Park and thank you for being so damn fuckin scary in that space horror movie. Rest in ✌️
Good actor kind human being.
No, *you’re* crying. I just have dirt in my eye.
A perfect example of positive masculinity. Seemed like such a wonderful, kind and gentle guy
He came into the CD store I worked in and discussed jazz with us for almost two hours, said last time he was in we recommended several albums that had became his favourites. He was very kind to the staff and gracious to all the other customers in the store and left with over 100 amazing esoteric jazz CDs. I will always remember him as nothing but a very kind man.
Obviously being born there helped but his performance in Peaky Blinders was so good and authentic.
He was my favorite Merlin.