It’s now emerged that the actor is said to have passed away after contracting pneumonia. In the last photo shown here, Neill is seen looking joyous at Sydney’s ARIA Hall of Fame ceremony, held in June.
In what turned out to be his final public appearance, the music was blaring as he posed under warm lights at the event.
But as well as the awards being handed out, the do represented a personal celebration for Neill, as he was also toasting his grueling survival from cancer.
On Instagram, he said he had reveled in a “great night,” adding he had spent the evening honoring artists he had spent decades worshipping.
The image was posted on Neill’s Instagram – and weeks after it was taken, his family used the feed to upload their announcement he had passed.
A source claimed, “Even though Sam had been seriously ill before, no one in his family saw his death coming. His passing is absolutely devastating for him, and that is why they called it sudden. They are broken without him.”
Other images on Neill’s Instagram and his TikTok show him speaking to birds as they pecked on piles of feed in front of his face, and holding bottles of red plonk from his beloved winery.
He also repeatedly posted clips of his father’s old wind-up toys, including one of Charlie Chaplin waddling along spinning his trademark cane, with captions celebrating how they still worked around 100 years after they were made.