Reo Ruiters was born in Holland on 13 February 1938 and came to South Africa as a child of 10. He was known as the “Granddaddy’ of stuntmen and dedicated much of his time to training. After a long illness, he suffered renal failure and died on 7 September at the Flora Clinic in Johannesburg.
Peter Smook of Atlanta in the United States wrote the following tribute:
“Reo will be missed by many people here in America, including Sharon Stone (King Soloman’s Mines) and Paulette Pierotti, Sharon Stone’s business partner.
“I had the wonderful pleasure of working with Reo on many productions
in South Africa. His death is a sad loss to the industry. Reo was highly respected in Russia as he was invited to judge the Promethius Stunt Festival in Moscow on five different occasions.
“He leaves his wonderful wife Sandra behind as well as hundreds of
friends and well wishers.’
