Tributes are flowing for beloved actor Sam Neill, who died in Sydney on Monday aged 78. His family announced the death on social media, describing the loss as “sudden and unexpected” but noting he was cancer-free at the time.
The New Zealand actor was a frequent presence on Australian screens and had a strong connection to Tasmania, having filmed the 2011 thriller The Hunter on the island. In a 2012 interview, Neill described Tasmania as a “fantastic wild and beautiful place,” noting the tension between development and the preservation of the environment was “nowhere more immediate than it is in Tasmania.”
Local film lovers may recall Neill’s 2019 visit for the Breath of Fresh Air (BOFA) Film Festival. According to a report in Forty South magazine at the time, Neill attended the Launceston-based festival alongside director Gillian Armstrong for a special 40th-anniversary celebration of their groundbreaking 1979 film, My Brilliant Career.
The festival’s co-founder and director, Owen Tilbury, hosted the star for the event, which the Forty South article described as giving “the community a chance to dress up, have fun and meet celebrities and stars”. The BOFA festival was founded by Owen and Helen Tilbury and began in 2010, according to the magazine.
The original ABC News (Tasmania) report, which prompted this story, highlighted former film festival curator Owen Tilbury’s role in convincing the actor to visit the state.
Neill had publicly documented his treatment for a rare form of blood cancer, first diagnosed in 2022. In a family statement posted to the actor’s social media, he was said to have “passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life.” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute, saying Neill “earned a special place in Australian hearts.”
The original story can be found on the ABC News website.