Sam Neill opened up about how he celebrated his love of food after five years of chemotherapy in his final interview before his tragic death was announced on Monday. The actor died at the age of 78 just months after revealing he was 'cancer-free', with his loved ones revealing the death was 'sudden and unexpected'. And in his last interview conducted in April, the Jurassic Park star revealed he ate whatever he liked following his cancer treatment. 'When I left hospital, I was looking forward to going to some good restaurants. I said to my nurse: “What should I be eating?” She said: “Sam, eat whatever you feel like.”'I was on chemo for five years. You can’t eat at all for two or three days after you’ve had chemo. So now, I eat whatever I want,' he told The Guardian. He added: 'I grow a lot of fruit on the farm – and I’ve just had my breakfast, which involved stewed plums, stewed apricots, and stewed rhubarb, all of which I grow down in the veggie garden. Sam Neill opened up about how he celebrated his love of food after five years of chemotherapy in his final interview before his tragic death was announced on Monday (pictured in 2019) Elsewhere in the interview Sam also discussed his love of playing the baddie in Peaky Blinders and The Piano. He explained: 'I’d like to think that, in life, I’m a goodie, so the chance to play a baddie can be a lot of fun.'I loved playing Major Campbell in Peaky Blinders because he had a very sad dimension, so I felt slightly sorry for him. But I don’t feel sorry for the other very influential bad guys in positions of power on the planet as we speak.'Sam revealed he had been diagnosed with stage-three blood cancer back in 2023 after receiving the diagnosis the previous year after initially experiencing swollen glands.Sam told Australian Story at the time: 'I'm not in any way frightened of dying. That doesn't worry me. It's never worried me from the beginning, but I would be annoyed.'I'd be annoyed because there are things I still want to do. Very irritating, dying. But I'm not afraid of it.''We've built all these lovely terraces, we've got these olive trees and cypresses, and I want to be around to see it all mature. And I've got my lovely little grandchildren. I want to see them get big.'However, in April, Neill announced tests had found he was cancer free.In an interview with Channel Seven, Neill detailed how close he came to death after chemotherapy stopped working. A costly, cutting-edge treatment prolonged his life.He said: 'I've been living with a particular type of lymphoma for about five years and I was on chemotherapy and the pretty miserable business, but it was keeping me alive.'Then the chemo stopped working. I was at a loss and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn't ideal obviously.'Neill underwent a special treatment called CAR T-cell therapy, which genetically modifies a patient's own T-cells to recognise and destroy cancer cells. Private treatment costs around $AUD540,000.'I've just had a scan just now and there is no cancer in my body, that's an extraordinary thing. I'm very, very excited that this can happen,' he said at the time.The treatment is currently in clinical trials to treat another blood cancer, myeloma.On Monday, Neill's family announced his shock death. Their statement read: 'It is with immense sadness that the whānau (family) 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. 'The family 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.'