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[R.I.P.] Legendary Actor Sid Haig Has Passed Away
A few weeks ago, it was reported that legendary film actor Sid Haig had an “accident” and was in the hospital’s ICU. His wife, Suzie, later took to Instagram to update fans and let us all know that he was doing better.
This morning, we woke up to the terribly sad news that Haig has passed on. He was 80 years old. His wife shared this message on IG.
“On Saturday, September 21, 2019, my light, my heart, my true love, my King, the other half of my soul, Sidney, passed from this realm on to the next. He has returned to the Universe, a shining star in her heavens. He was my angel, my husband, my best friend and always will be. He adored his family, his friends and his fans. This came as a shock to all of us.”
While many younger horror fans know him from Rob Zombie’s films, one of Haig’s first ever horror movies was way back in 1967, Jack Hill’s Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told, a film that heavily inspired Zombie’s works. Zombie would eventually cast Haig in his Universal Pictures-produced and Lionsgate-released House of 1,000 Corpses (2003) where he would become the horror icon known as Captain Spaulding. He would star in its popular sequel, The Devil’s Rejects, before making a minor cameo in this fall’s just-released 3 From Hell. His recent decline in health was the reason for his short appearance in the latter.
Sid’s other genre projects include Galaxy of Terror, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Night of the Living Dead 3D, Halloween (2007), The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, Dark Moon Rising, Creature, The Lords of Salem, Hatchet III, Death House, Bone Tomahawk, High on the Hog and Hanukkah.
We send our thoughts and prayers to Haig’s family and friends. Haig appeared in nearly 150 projects in his life, and we will celebrate his career until the end of ours. We’ll miss you, Sid.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. 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. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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