Laura Dern<\/a> has hailed Sam Neill as her \u201cbeloved\u201d friend.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Laura Dern has hailed Sam Neill as her \u2018beloved\u2019 friend<\/p>\n
The actress, 59, broke her silence on her grief over Sam\u2019s death after a raft of celebrities posted tributes to the late star, whose death aged 78 was announced on Monday (13.07.26.)<\/p>\n
Laura, who starred with Sam in the Jurassic Park franchise, in which he played Dr. Alan Grant. remembered Sam after his family confirmed he had died following what they described as a \u201csudden and unexpected\u201d death following his news he was free of cancer.<\/p>\n
In a statement shared with Page Six, Laura said: \u201cSam was my beloved lifetime friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She added: \u201cHe showed me the depths of loyalty, protectiveness and love always with the driest of wit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nLaura continued Sam was \u201ca true and noble gentleman\u201d who was \u201cwrapped up in my dream leading man.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nShe concluded: \u201cI will love you forever, Dr. Alan Grant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe pair\u2019s enduring friendship extended well beyond the screen. <\/p>\n
\nIn 2022, while promoting Jurassic World Dominion, Laura described reuniting with Sam as a \u201cdream come true\u201d after the original cast returned alongside Jeff Goldblum for the latest instalment of the dinosaur saga.<\/p>\n
\nSpeaking to Entertainment Tonight at the time, Laura said: \u201c(Sam is) just an extraordinary gentleman and the minute I walked (along) that dig site into the tent and there was Dr. Alan Grant, still waiting for me to show up, I was very moved. And it was very special.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDuring the same promotional campaign, Laura and Sam also reflected on the age difference between their characters when the original Jurassic Park was filmed.<\/p>\n
\nIn an interview with The Sunday Times, Sam said: \u201cI am 20 years older than Laura! Which at the time was a completely appropriate age difference for a leading man and lady.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHe explained his perspective later changed after seeing himself featured in a magazine article titled \u201cOld Geezers and Gals\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nLaura said \u201cit felt completely appropriate to fall in love\u201d with Sam at the time, but added \u201ccultural awareness about the patriarchy\u201d had since changed how she viewed the relationship between her Jurassic Park character Dr. Ellie Sattler and his Dr. Alan Grant.<\/p>\n
\nLaura and Sam became synonymous with Steven Spielberg\u2019s Jurassic Park franchise after portraying the pair of palaeontologists in the landmark 1993 blockbuster. <\/p>\n
\nThey later reunited for Jurassic Park III in 2001 and Jurassic World Dominion in 2022, with their on-screen chemistry becoming one of the defining elements of the series. <\/p>\n
\nLaura\u2019s tribute comes as fans across the world remember Sam\u2019s decades-long career, which also included acclaimed performances in The Piano, The Hunt for Red October, Peaky Blinders and The Tudors. <\/p>\n
\nLaura, meanwhile, continues to be recognised for films including Marriage Story, Wild and Blue Velvet, as well as the HBO drama Big Little Lies.<\/p>\n
\nSam\u2019s family confirmed his death in a statement shared on Instagram.<\/p>\n
\nIt read: \u201cSam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe news came two months after Sam revealed he was cancer-free following treatment for a rare and aggressive form of cancer.<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"13 July 2026 Laura Dern has hailed Sam Neill as her \u201cbeloved\u201d friend. Laura Dern has hailed Sam Neill as her \u2018beloved\u2019 friend The actress, 59, broke her silence on her grief over Sam\u2019s death after a raft of celebrities posted tributes to the late star, whose death aged 78 was announced on Monday (13.07.26.) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2651,294,4523,228],"class_list":{"0":"post-251735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-jeff-goldblum","9":"tag-laura-dern","10":"tag-sam-neill","11":"tag-steven-spielberg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}