DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[Edward]

N.Z. actor, Sam Neill has died aged 78. A very familiar face on our screens. Cause of death hasn't yet been disclosed & despite having had cancer (T-cell lymphoma) in 2022, treatment appeared to keep the disease in check & he was supposedly cancer free at the time of death. He could really rock any hat too.

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A very sad loss. Enjoyed his performances in anything and everything in which he turned up, though for me the stand out was his Major Chester Campbell in the first two series of Peaky Blinders. His characterisation, accent and dialect were all a perfect encapsulation of a man of a very specific placed and socio-political class in the north of Ireland in a particularly significant time period for that territory, and he inhabited the role perfectly.

 

[Doctor Strange]

One role I enjoyed Sam Neill in that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere was as King Charles II in Restoration (1995). Interesting historical drama with Robert Downey, Jr., Ian McKellen, and Meg Ryan (who's SO miscast).

 

[Harp]

^ Sam Neill first caught my note in Reilly, Ace of Spies, his signature series in the espionage
genre, followed later by The Hunt For Red October, Tudors as Wolsey, and any of a number of good roles; all capstoned with Campbell in Peaky Blinders. A master craftsman skilled to exquisite exacting detail and nuance. R.I.P.

 

[belfastboy]

I always thought he was an Aussie. It seemed for a while that every movie we watched from Aus or NZ had him it. And I wondered if it was mandated by gov't that in order to get a subsidy, Sam had to appear in the movie. I did enjoy his work.