Cliff Simon, who played villain Ba’al on the long-running “Stargate SG-1” series, died in a kiteboarding accident at Topanga Beach, California, his wife announced Thursday. He was 58.
“There’s a gaping hole where he once stood on this Earth,” Colette Simon wrote on Facebook. “He was and always will be the love of my life and there is an unimaginable heartbreak.”
She said her husband died “during one of the things he loved most and died on the beach by the water, which was his temple.”
“Stargate SG-1,” the space exploration drama that premiered on Showtime in 1997 and ended its 10-year run on the Sci-Fi Channel (later known as Syfy), featured Cliff Simon in more than a dozen episodes, according to IMDB.
Colette Simon said the character was “the bad guy you love to hate.”
Cliff Simon, a South African native who also lived in the UK for many years, made his US TV debut in 2000 in a guest role on “Nash Bridges”. He later appeared in “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “Days of Our Lives,” “The Americans,” and “Castle.”
Colette Simon quoted her husband as saying, “Acting is what I do, it’s just part of who I am.”
Cliff Simon was also an accomplished swimmer, South African Air Force veteran, windsurfing instructor and model, according to People.
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