Did I Ever Tell You This?

By: Sam Neill

Narrated by: Sam Neill

In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion.

By his own account, his career has been a series of unpredictable turns of fortune. Born in 1947 in Northern Ireland, he emigrated to New Zealand at the age of seven. His family settled in Dunedin on the South Island, but young Sam was sent away to boarding school in Christchurch, where he was hopeless at sports and discovered he enjoyed acting.

But how did you become an actor in New Zealand in the 1960 and 1970s where there was no film industry? After university he made documentary films while also appearing in occasional amateur productions of Shakespeare. In 1977 he took the lead in Sleeping Dogs, the first feature made in New Zealand in more than a decade, a project that led to a major role in Gillian Armstrong’s celebrated My Brilliant Career.

And after that Sam Neill found his way, sometimes by accident, into his own brilliant career. He has worked around the world, an actor who has moved effortlessly from blockbuster to art house to TV, from Dr Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park movies to The Piano and Peaky Blinders.

Did I Ever Tell You This? is a joy to hear, a marvellous and often very funny book, the work of a natural storyteller who is a superb observer of other people, and who writes with love and warmth about his family. It is also his account of his life outside film, especially in Central Otago where he established Two Paddocks, his vineyard famous for its pinot noir.

©2023 Sam Neill (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd

A Kiwi Knight who kept me up for many nights

Sam Neill captured my, um, fanciful intimate interest -- if I can put it that way -- as PBS presented "Reilly: Ace of Spies". And over the years, I have watched his acting prowess go from strength to strength. (Note to self: Watch "Restoration" again.). And every bit of it is captured in his warm voice during this 12 plus hours of memoirs. It took me several weeks of "just ONE chapter before I go to sleep".

I do appreciate that Mr Neill does draw a discreet curtain around his choices of lady friends. Oh, he is definitely keen to share many odd, startling, dangerous, ridiculous and hilarious adventures, but the bedroom door is firmly shut. Don't worry: you shall not be bored!

Look, 12 hours is a lot. And he does a great job in bringing the reader into a generous portion of it, and, free of self-pity, his recent chemotherapy and medical trials with cancer.

Above all, he is a New Zealander. With an OBE, fine ... but for all his travels all around the world, it is to this windswept land mass perched not near much else in the Pacific Ocean which holds his deepest devotion, respect and love.

Fascinating life from a very talented man with real perspective.

Overall, this was a very good lesson. And more interesting than I had even imagined. I think that we all wanted to hear a little bit more of his Hollywood experience but overall it was a very interesting story and showed the multifaceted human being. That is the author.

Very good!

Well written, very well narrated and a lovely life story that I would describe as very down to earth.

I wouldn't say it's riveting, but definitely worth your time.

excellent read.

Loved the author's sincere and heart warming narration of his life. Always enjoyed his acting and got to hear first hand how he really feels and the important things in his life. They could even make a movie about his life.

A Beautiful Man!

I have genuinely enjoyed this Memoir by Sam Neal. He truly expresses his true nature from a very heartfelt and honest perspective. I love how he paid such great respect to anyone who gave him “a leg up” along the way. Thank you Mr. Neal. May you be well🙏❤️