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Anthony Head, the suave, smooth-voiced British actor known for roles in TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ted Lasso, has died, his family said Friday. He was 72.
Head’s daughters, actors Emily and Daisy Head, told the Press Association news agency that the actor faced complications from pneumonia.
The performer became known to British TV audiences in the 1980s as half of a will-they, won’t-they romantic couple in a series of ads for Nescafé instant coffee. The ads were later reshot for a U.S. audience for Taster’s Choice.
Head achieved wider fame as librarian Rupert Giles, mentor to the title character in the cult-favourite supernatural TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which ran from 1997 to 2003.
In TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Head portrayed librarian Ruper Giles, a mentor to Sarah Michelle Geller’s titular high school heroine. The two, at left, are seen with co-stars Alyson Hannigan, centre, Seth Green, centre-right, Nicholas Brendon and Charisma Carpenter. (Warner Bros/Getty Images)
He most recently played Rupert Mannion, the villainous ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s character Rebecca, in Ted Lasso.
“Our grief is far greater than the hole he has left behind, but we know his legacy will live on, in the shows he was a part of and in the audiences that love them,” his daughters said.
“How lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us.”
Actor Anthony Stewart Head signs a poster onstage at a 2006 science fiction convention in Pasadena, Calif. (David Livingston/Getty Images)Born to an entertainment family
Head was born in London on Feb. 20, 1954, to Seafield Head, a documentary filmmaker, and Helen Shingler, an actor. His older brother, Murray, is also an actor.
Other notable roles included playing Geoffrey Howe, deputy to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, played by Meryl Streep, in the Oscar-winning The Iron Lady.
Among Head’s most recent gigs was a recurring role as Rupert Mannion, the villainous ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s character, Rebecca, in the Emmy-winning Apple TV series Ted Lasso. (Apple TV)
Head portrayed a prime minister himself in the sketch comedy show Little Britain, as well as King Uther Pendragon, the father of Prince Arthur, in the Merlin TV series.
He also appeared in Motherland, Manchild and Silent Witness, acted in many plays and musicals, and recorded music as a singer.
In 2025, he was predeceased by his longtime partner, animal welfare activist Sarah Fisher, 61.