Alert – Sam Neill reveals the big name Aussie actor who lent him support during his cancer treatment: ‘That’s a real friend’

Sam Neill has revealed that Aussie actor Bryan Brown was one of his biggest supporters as he underwent treatment for stage-three blood cancer, after the Jurassic Park star was diagnosed with the disease in 2022.

Speaking with Jess Rowe on her Big Talk Show podcast on Wednesday, the 76-year-old, who is now in remission, said it was dear friends like Bryan, 77, who were his pillars of strength.

‘I would be completely lost without friends and old friends are even more precious because they have been through the tough times,’ Sam said.

‘I had a spell in hospital and Bryan came in every day. Every day. I thought: “That’s a real friend.”

‘He didn’t have anything to say, but he came in and kept me company.’

Sam added that despite the pair having very little in common, their friendship has lasted for more than 40 years.

‘Bryan and I have been friends since 1980, I think it is,’ he said.

Sam Neill, left, has revealed that iconic Aussie actor Bryan Brown, right, was one of his biggest supporters during his treatment for stage-three blood cancer after the Jurassic Park star was diagnosed with the disease in 2022

‘It’s an unlikely friendship because we really have nothing in common. I love him dearly, he’s a great family man [and] immensely loyal.’ 

Sam found out he had stage-three blood cancer in 2022 during his first trip back to New Zealand after lockdowns made returning home to see his family virtually impossible for two years. 

His son Tim told the ABC’s n Story his dad had been back in New Zealand for barely an hour when a doctor phoned with the awful news that he had cancer.

‘When he hung the phone up and we sat down, we had a little bit of a cry together. It was supposed to be a happy day. He didn’t get to stay,’ Tim said.

Sam continued: ‘I was in, really, a fight for my life. And everything was a new world and a rather alarming world.

‘I had three or four months of reasonably conventional chemotherapies, which are brutal.’

Speaking with Jess Rowe on her Big Talk Show podcast, the 76-year-old Neill, who is now in remission, said it was friends like Bryan Brown, 77, (pictured) who were his pillars of strength