Sam Neill, who played Dr. Alan Grant in the “Jurassic Park” movies, died at 78, just a few months after announcing he was cancer-free.

Hollywood’s most beloved palaeontologist has taken his final bow, with Sam Neill’s cause of death revealed as pneumonia following years of gruelling cancer treatment.

A movie star, certainly, but also a distinguished actor who never chose a role for its sparkle, and preferred the clever writing of obscure masterpieces to big-ticket blockbuster movies.