{"id":624367,"date":"2026-06-06T12:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T12:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/624367\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T12:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T12:07:11","slug":"sarah-michelle-gellar-pens-emotional-tribute-to-anthony-head-after-his-death-aged-72-im-not-ok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/624367\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Michelle Gellar pens emotional tribute to Anthony Head after his death aged 72: \u2018I\u2019m not ok\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sarah Michelle Gellar<\/a> has shared a heartfelt tribute to her Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/a> co-star Anthony Head<\/a>, who has died aged 72<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The British actor, who was known for playing the socially awkward British librarian Rupert Giles and watcher to Gellar\u2019s Buffy in the series, died due to complications related to pneumonia, his daughters said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In the series, Head\u2019s character was assigned by the ancient British council to oversee the actions of the Slayer, but as the series developed, he became more of a surrogate father and mentor to Buffy.<\/p>\n

Sharing a picture of herself alongside Head and his two daughters<\/a>, Daisy and Emily, Gellar began with a quote from the season five finale: \u201c\u2018Tell Giles I figured it out and I\u2019m ok\u2019… Well I don\u2019t have it figured out and I\u2019m not ok.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I know I\u2019m the lucky one because I knew you. Thank you to Daisy and Emily who not only shared their dad with me, but with the world,\u201d Gellar wrote.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Head pictured with Sarah Michelle Gellar and other \u2018Buffy\u2019 cast members (Getty)<\/p>\n

In her post, Gellar also shared quotes from a famous scene from season two, episode seven, where Buffy asks Giles about life\u2019s hardships.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes it ever get easy….life?\u201d her character asks. \u201cLie to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it’s terribly simple,\u201d Head\u2019s character replies. \u201cThe good guys are always stalwart and true. The bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats. And we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies and… everybody lives happily ever after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Announcing his death, Head\u2019s daughters said Friday: \u201cIt has been, and forever will be, an honor and a privilege to be his daughters, and to have witnessed firsthand the impact both he and his work have had on so many.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know how dearly he will be missed by friends, colleagues, and fans of the shows he was in \u2013 he loved his job very much, and he always considered himself incredibly lucky, to have been able to work alongside such exceptionally talented people, in such wonderful productions, across a career that spanned several decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head\u2019s other Buffy co-stars have been sharing tributes online. James Marsters, who played the villain vampire Spike in the series, wrote in an Instagram post Friday: \u201cThere\u2019s a hole in the World.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Head portrayed the awkward librarian and watcher Rupert Giles in \u2018Buffy\u2019 (Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was an unflaggingly kind and steady presence on the set of Buffy, and the best actor in the cast. He was the best of us,\u201d he continued. \u201cHe left the world a better place for his presence,\u201d the 63-year-old said, sharing a photograph of the pair on the show. \u201cThank you Tony for all you gave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma Caulfield, who portrayed the demon Anya Jenkins, shared her own post. \u201cThis was taken on the London Underground in 2011,\u201d the actor said alongside a selfie of the co-stars. \u201cI went to visit my friend Tony on the set of The Iron Lady. We had lunch, hit up a record store, had dinner and drinks and laughed until our sides hurt. It was a perfect day.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she was lucky to call Head her \u201cfriend for 27 years…. He was kind and wise and a guide in troubled times.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Buffy marked his breakthrough role in America, Head went on to star in shows including Little Britain, Silent Witness, My Family, The Inbetweeners, Monarch of the Glen and as King Uther Pendragon in the BBC\u2019s popular Merlin series, also appearing in films such as The Iron Lady opposite Meryl Streep. More recently, he is known for his recurring role in the Emmy-winning comedy drama Ted Lasso as former football club owner Rupert Mannion, joining as a series regular for season three.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Head as Rupert Mannion, alongside Hannah Waddingham, in the Apple TV+ comedy \u2018Ted Lasso\u2019 (Apple TV+)<\/p>\n

Head\u2019s Ted Lasso stars also shared memories of working with the star.<\/p>\n

Brett Goldstein, who plays Roy Kent in the series, shared, \u201cAnthony Head was a brilliant actor who played the worst person in the world, which was an incredible skill because he was the best person,\u201d referencing Head\u2019s villain character in the series.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Swift, who portrays Leslie Higgins, said on Instagram: \u201cGoodbye Tony, we adored you, Rest in Peace, my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head is survived by his two daughters. His wife, Sarah Fisher, died aged 61 in December last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-624367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}