Rest in peace, Sam Neill.

To many moviegoers and cinephiles, Neill will forever remain associated with Dr. Alan Grant, the intelligent and reluctant hero whose encounter with living dinosaurs in Jurassic Park became one of the most renowned performances in modern blockbuster history. His grounded portrayal provided the emotional anchor for a film masterpiece that revolutionized visual effects and became a cultural phenomenon in today’s era of blockbuster filmmaking. In a recent article posted by Variety, director Spielberg commented, “Sam was exceptionally collaborative…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 would also follow this role with reappearances in Jurassic Park 3 and the recent Jurassic World Dominion, which grossed over a billion dollars worldwide.

Neill has also had a massive number of roles and earned respect over a five-decade career, including Sleeping Dogs, My Brilliant Career, The Final Conflict, Dead Calm, Possession (1981), The Hunt for Red October, The Piano (1993), Reilly, Ace of Spies, Merlin, The Tudors, Peaky Blinders, and Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

He also received three Primetime Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe Awards.

Despite overcoming stage 3 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a form of blood cancer, he left his physical body on July 13th. He is survived by his son Tim and his daughter Elena.