Anthony Head, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ted Lasso actor, dies at 72 | Television

Anthony Head, actor best known for playing Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire SlayerHe died at the age of 72.

“He passed away peacefully from complications of pneumonia, surrounded by his family,” his daughters Emily and Daisy Head said in a statement.

“It has been, and forever will be, a privilege and a privilege to be his daughters, and to see for yourself how much he and his work have affected so many people.”

As well as playing Sarah Michelle Gellar’s cultural adviser, Head had a recurring role in David Walliams and Matt Lucas’ BBC sketch show Little Britain, appeared in the BBC production of Merlin and had film roles in The Iron Lady and The Inbetweeners Movie. Most recently, he played Rupert Mannion’s ex-football owner in Ted Lasso.

Born in Camden, London, Head was raised by artistic parents. Her father was a film producer who founded Verity Films, while her mother was an actress who played Madame Maigret in the 60s BBC crime drama Maigret. Meanwhile his brother was also an actor known for his role in 1971’s Sunday Bloody Sunday,

The Head family were devoted to the arts and passed their passion on to their son. “My Christmas present was always a new dress that my mother – who was a brilliant seamstress – made herself,” Head. he said Guardian in 2016.

“At the gym, the lady who ran took my parents aside one day and said, ‘We love it when Anthony comes dressed up, but it would be great to meet Anthony one day – he’s comfortable in whatever he’s wearing.’

Head began his professional career on stage, starring in the 1978 West End revival of Godspell alongside Su Pollard. Over the next decade, he worked in a variety of roles, including the 1981 adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and a role in 1987’s The Deathly Hallows alongside Bob Hoskins and Liam Neeson.

In the early 80s, Head also sang backing vocals for British pop group Red Box, and was featured on their 1986 album The Circle & the Square. He is best known in the UK and US for his role in Nescafé’s Gold Blend TV commercials, which focus on a slow-burning romance between a British couple.

However the stage continued to focus on Head, with leading roles as Freddie Trumper in the original West End production of ABBA’s Chess in 1988, as well as roles in A Patriot for Me and Lady Windermere’s Fan. He also played the role of Dr Frank-N-Furter in the 1990 West End production of The Rocky Horror Show.

After winning the role of Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Head moved to Los Angeles for five years while his partner, Sarah, and two daughters lived in England.

“I tried to go to their house every three or four weeks,” he told the Guardian. “The production team worked around me, and whenever I had the opportunity to have six days, I would fly… I spent a lot of money on the plane, but we did it.”

Head he said that his rise to world fame taught him “not to be deceived.” (Co-stars) Alyson Hannigan and Sarah Michelle Gellar talk about the cover of a magazine, and I think: where is mine?

After Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended in 2003, Head took over duty to repeat in Little Britain. The actor played a British prime minister who is constantly attracted to a romantic assistant (Walliams).

In Ted Lasso, he was featured regularly with show co-creator Jason Sudeikis, with the pair being praised for their sizzling on-screen chemistry.

“We know how much he will be missed by friends, colleagues and fans of the shows he was in – he loved his work and always felt privileged to have worked with such talented people, creating great things, in a career that spanned decades,” his daughters said.

“Our grief is far greater than the hole he has left but we know his legacy will live on in the shows he hosted and in the audiences he loved.

“How blessed we are to know that we get to see him doing what he loves, even when he’s not with us.”

Head’s friend, Sarah Fisher, died in December 2025, aged 61. “It’s a huge shock to all of us, and it came with very little warning. There are no words that can describe everything that surrounded him, or begin to describe the valley,” the daughters of the women said in a statement at the time.

Celebrations have been pouring in from those who knew and worked with Head.

“I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Tony Head,” co-creator of Little Britain Matt Lucas he wrote on X. “When we were making Little Britain, we were looking for a ‘Tony Head-type’, because we never thought for a moment that the man himself would be interested, but he was lucky. He was unfailingly intelligent, and always kind and cheerful. My heart goes out to Daisy and Emily.”

“He was kind and generous,” Head’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star David Boreanaz wrote on Instagram.

“Tony H – for every experience and moment he shared, I’m grateful,” said Buffy co-star Eliza Dushku. “Rest in love and peace, kind sir. Beloved.”