Cliff Simon, a talented actor who many know from Stargate SG-1 and his own series Into the Unknown, passed away due to a tragic kiteboarding accident on March 9th, 2021.
Born in South Africa, Simon was an Air Force Veteran, a world class gymnast and swimmer before turning his sights on the entertainment industry. He performed at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, a time he chronicles in his book “Paris Nights: My Year at the Moulin Rouge.” After gracing the stage in South Africa for years, he moved on to television with such shows as Nash Bridges, Days of Our Lives, Castle, 24, NCIS, The Americans and most famously, in the role of Ba’al on Stargate SG-1 and in the follow-up TV movie Stargate: Continuum. His love of travel and the outdoors was also apparent as he hosted the show Into the Unknown. Ever moving forward, he was developing new projects at the time of his death.
His wife posted the following statement on his Facebook page:
To Friends, family and fans,
It is with unimaginable heartbreak that I am sharing with you, that my beloved husband, Cliff Simon, passed away at 12:30pm on Tuesday March 9, 2021. He was at Topanga Beach, California and sadly passed away after a tragic kiteboarding accident. He was known to most of you on this page as the villain you loved to hate, Ba’al, from Stargate SG-1. But as he said, “acting is what I do, it’s only a part of who I am.”
And he was SO much more – a true original, an adventurer, a sailor, swimmer, dancer, actor, author. There is a gaping hole where he once stood on this earth. He was loved by too many to mention and had a great impact on so many lives. He was an amazing and much loved brother, uncle, nephew, cousin and friend.
He was and always will be the love of my life and there is unimaginable heartbreak.
A small saving grace to this tragedy is that he was doing one of the things he loved most and passed away on the beach near the water, which was his temple.
I know this is a shock and will hit hard but we hope you can respect our need for privacy at this time.
I will end with this verse which Cliff loved and lived his life by:
“I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dryrot.
I would rather be a super meteor,
every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet,
The proper function of man is to live,
not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”I ask that you please respect our family’s privacy during this time.
We at Fandom Spotlite are very saddened by this news, particularly since we had the honor of interviewing him a month prior to his death. To us, he was a man of humor, optimism, strong beliefs, and a strong desire to live life to its fullest. We feel we barely got to know this amazing individual and we were looking forward to learning so much more. He was a man to be much admired and we hope people can see the spirit of this fine soul and are inspired by it. His love of the outdoors and his respect for nature were just two of the qualities we admired about this man. His talent to entertain was phenomenal. While we did not know him long, we mourn his loss and that we did not have the opportunity to continue following him on his journey. He is and shall be missed.
We send our deepest condolences to his family and close friends.
