He was a great actor, and as such accumulated a long list of credits, but I'll remember him most fondly for being part of the ensemble cast of a movie I genuinely love: Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World.
I believe he was one of the few survivors among the main cast.
Remember seeing Sam about the town in various cafes and the like over the years but that was a long while ago, hearing that he has passed away is making me feel old 🙁 he was a thougherly nice chap.
As celebrities go this was a big one, I've noticed an unusually high number of posts from friends and on social media about this too. I actually just saw Jurassic Park at the cinema for the first time last Wednesday too, at a retro movie night. Obviously I had seen it at home countless times though.
The last movie I watched of his for the first time was I think late last year or maybe early this year, when the 4K remaster of In The Mouth of Madness came out. I'm a sucker for John Carpenter movies, and as always he was great in it and really understood what the movie was going for. I don't think I've ever seen a bad performance from him though, and by all accounts he was a great person off the screen as well. What a shame.
Sam Neill fooled me in "Forgotten Silver". I was sceptical of the whole film, but when I saw Sam Neill, I thought "He is a serious actor" must be true then.
Sam Neill was always one of my heroes. Very sad. I remember watching Jurassic Park in the Cinema at age 7. It’s was 34 years ago and I still remember my mother picking me up after school and telling me that she had gotten tickets. I also remember not really sleeping that night or the night after. It was really THE movie of my childhood. It just blew my mind with the effects and the soundtrack and Alan Grant was such a cool character. It is still my favourite movie.