The school Sam Neill once said was full of inbreds pays tribute to ‘distinguished old boy’

Tuesday, 14 July 2026

Entertainment commentator Kate Rodger reacts to the tragic news of Sir Sam Neill’s passing at age 78, sharing fond, personal memories of the beloved actor's generosity, his Hollywood escape habits, and his enduring love for the screen.

Christ’s College Old Boys’ Association has paid tribute to Sam Neill saying he was one of the school’s most distinguished old boys.

Neill attended the school in the 1960s, but did not speak fondly of his time there.

In his 2023 memoir, Neill said Christ’s College was full of inbreds and that its reputation was overrated.

The old boy’s association of the school Sir Sam Neil once derided as being full of students who were “the product of generations of inbreeding” has paid tribute to the actor following news of his death.

Christ’s College Old Boys’ Association said in a statement on social media Neill was one of the school’s “most distinguished old boys” and that his career took him from the “classrooms of College to the world stage”.

The association said Neill was “admired for his intelligence, wit, humility, and generosity” and “remained proudly connected to New Zealand throughout his life”.

Sam Neill said Christ’s College was full of inbreds.

“Sir Sam’s legacy will endure through his remarkable contribution to film and the arts, and he will be remembered with great pride by the Christ’s College community,” they said.

“Our sincere condolences are with his family, friends, and all who had the privilege of knowing him.”

Neill attended Christ’s College in Christchurch between 1961 and 1965. On the school’s website it says he “passed through College largely unnoticed”.

Sir Sam Neill attended Christ’s College in the 1960s.

In his 2023 memoir Did I Ever Tell You This?, Neill spoke less fondly about his experience at the elite school, saying as a school boarder he had “a twenty-four-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week commitment to hell”.

In the interview, Neill said many of the students at the boarding house were the “product of generations of inbreeding”.

New Zealand screen legend Sir Sam Neill has died in Sydney aged 78. The Jurassic Park and The Piano actor passed away suddenly, leaving fans and the global film industry in shock just months after celebrating being cancer-free.

“Canterbury farming families, for some reason, like to marry among their own. The gene pool is very small. You would think that a cursory examination of how they bred their Corriedale sheep would’ve been helpful in this regard. Sadly, no,” he said.

Neill recalled that Jacob House in particular had a “disproportionate number of very thick boys,” but that he himself was in Richards, a house “full of the boys that no one else wanted”.

He said the school’s reputation was overrated and that there was an entrance exam he “never heard of anyone failing”.

“There were boys there who could barely work out how to close a gate, let alone remember the names of English kings,” Neil said.

“There are still people in Canterbury today who consider it a mark of distinction that they were there. This is completely delusional; they just had four or five years of mutual mediocrity, I’m afraid.”

Neill died unexpectedly on Monday, aged 78, in Sydney.

The actor had lived with stage-three blood cancer for five years, but announced just months ago that he was cancer-free.

“Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life,” his family said in a statement marking his death.

“The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free.”