{"id":131970,"date":"2026-06-05T11:15:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T17:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/actor-anthony-head-known-for-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-has-died-at-72\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:12:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:12:32","slug":"actor-anthony-head-known-for-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-has-died-at-72","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/actor-anthony-head-known-for-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-has-died-at-72\/","title":{"rendered":"Actor Anthony Head, known for \u2018Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ has died at 72"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FILE
FILE – Anthony Head arrives for the European premiere of 'The Iron Lady' on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, in London. (AP Photo\/Jonathan Short, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Jonathan Short, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LONDON (AP) \u2014 Anthony Head, the suave, smooth-voiced British actor known for roles in \u201cBuffy the Vampire Slayer\u201d and \u201cTed Lasso,” has died, his family said Friday. He was 72.<\/p>\n

Head\u2019s daughters, actors Emily and Daisy Head, told the Press Association news agency that the actor passed away due to complications from pneumonia.<\/p>\n

The stage and TV performer became well known to British audiences in the 1980s as one half of a will-they, won\u2019t-they romantic couple in a series of ads for Nescafe Gold Blend instant coffee. The ads were later re-shot for a U.S. audience for Taster’s Choice.<\/p>\n

Head achieved wider fame as librarian Rupert Giles, mentor to the title character in the cult-favorite supernatural series \u201cBuffy the Vampire Slayer,\u201d which ran from 1997 to 2003.<\/p>\n

He most recently played Rupert Mannion, the villainous ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham\u2019s character Rebecca, in \u201cTed Lasso.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur 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,\u201d his daughters said. \u201cHow lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Other notable roles included playing Geoffrey Howe, the deputy to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, played by Meryl Streep, in the Oscar-winning \u201cThe Iron Lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head portrayed a prime minister himself in the sketch comedy show \u201cLittle Britain,\u201d as well as King Uther Pendragon, the father of Prince Arthur, in the \u201cMerlin\u201d TV series. He also appeared in \u201cMotherland,” Manchild,\u201d and \u201cSilent Witness,\u201d along with acting in many plays, musicals, and recording music as a singer.<\/p>\n

He was predeceased by his longtime partner, animal welfare activist Sarah Fisher, 61, in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"FILE
FILE – Anthony Head poses during the "Merlin" photocall at the 51st Monaco Television Festival in Monte Carlo, Monaco, Friday, June 10, 2010. (AP Photo\/Christian Alminana, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Christian Alminana, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – Anthony Head arrives for the European premiere of 'The Iron Lady' on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, in London. (AP Photo\/Jonathan Short, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Jonathan Short, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– Anthony Head arrives for the European premiere of 'The Iron Lady' on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, in London. (AP Photo\/Jonathan Short, File)(AP Photo\/Jonathan Short, File) LONDON (AP) \u2014 Anthony Head, the suave, smooth-voiced British actor known for roles in \u201cBuffy the Vampire Slayer\u201d and \u201cTed Lasso,” has died, his family said Friday. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-131970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131970"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132004,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131970\/revisions\/132004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131970"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=131970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}