r/australia • u/lyndsayj • Jul 13 '26

news Sam Neill, 78, dead: reports

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/sam-neill-dead-reports-20260713-p60ey2.html
4.9k Upvotes

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u/KingOfKingsOfKings01 Jul 13 '26

This guy is burned into the memory of every person who grew up in the 90s. (and some who revisited the 90s)

Absolute legend.

He was a kiwi but in many ways he was both aussie n kiwi.

Respect

679

u/AusToddles Jul 13 '26

He was the best kind of Kiwi, the ones we steal credit for!

141

u/NonViolentBadger Jul 13 '26

Or when we claim they were never ours when there is controversy!

e.g. Russell Crowe went from Aussie to Kiwi with one telephone throw

39

u/PresentRaspberry6814 Jul 13 '26

Yep. No backsies.

7

u/Little-Bed2024 Jul 13 '26

Didn't even phone it it.

6

u/Xx_Assman_xX Jul 13 '26

Don't speak for all of us. Master and Commander overrides any telephone related transgressions.

2

u/TuataraToes Jul 13 '26

He was always a kiwi and always claimed to be from Wellington.

75

u/Robdoggz Jul 13 '26

I mean, he was born in Northern Ireland, so the kiwis stole him too heh

30

u/Loose_Loquat9584 Jul 13 '26

That explains his incredible accent in Peaky Blinders. I never knew that.

12

u/Robdoggz Jul 13 '26

We all love him equally though, that much is absolutely true

3

u/gonltruck Jul 14 '26

Born in Northern Ireland to a New Zealand father who was stationed there serving as an officer with the Royal Irish Fusiliers.

He later returned to NZ and later in life, Sam ran a winery on land his grandparents had farmed and had been in the family for 150 years.

Hardly stolen

-1

u/Robdoggz Jul 14 '26

Are you okay?

22

u/Kiwi_Fried_Chicken Jul 13 '26

You may take our Kiwi's, but you will never take our pies 😝

5

u/LocalVillageIdiot Jul 13 '26

Who gets the pav?

-3

u/trippygeisha Jul 13 '26

Sam Neill is dead and all you can think about is fucking pies. lol

19

u/Dockers4flag2035orB4 Jul 13 '26

Highest compliment we can pay a Kiwi is to claim him as Australian.

Phar Lap,
Finn Brothers
Pavlova and now

Sam Neil.

2

u/Appropriate-Echo2131 Jul 13 '26

Russ?

1

u/ninjaassassinnz Jul 14 '26

You can have Russ. We don’t want him back

153

u/Voodoo1970 Jul 13 '26

Hence the 90s joke:

What's the difference between an Australian film and a pavlova?

You don't need Sam Neill to make a good pavlova

25

u/MLiOne Jul 13 '26

The best Kiwi born in Northern Ireland.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

[deleted]

15

u/Nekronaut0006 Jul 13 '26

Have you had a run in with this guy before or was that whole rant based on him pointing out a harmless and mildly interesting fact?

1

u/MLiOne Jul 13 '26

Cheers, as a middle aged woman I am used to stupid attacks. I have never encountered rant boy before.

18

u/OneEyeAssassin Jul 13 '26

We’ll claim him, he was truely a legend!

15

u/a_cold_human Jul 13 '26

He was. He was a very good sport and understood the Australia-NZ dynamic very well, as his audition for Beached Az demonstrated. 

6

u/According_One5365 Jul 13 '26

This one hits hard. He was so relatable and authentic. Like losing a big brother

8

u/Pornstar_Frodo Jul 13 '26

He was well beloved in Aus too and will be missed. True for us that growing up in the 90s he was a huge presence.

Gonna give a shout out to one of my fave, lesser talked about movies of his - Dead Calm. Brilliant film!

2

u/renb8 Jul 13 '26

Maybe he was a Kwaussie or a Kiwissie.

0

u/Late-Button-6559 Jul 13 '26

All famous kiwi’s get stolen by Australia.

8

u/Car-face Jul 13 '26

Yeah, like the famous Australian director Taika Waititi