Anthony Head, the actor best-known for playing Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has di£d aged 72.
“He passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family,” his daughters Emily and Daisy Head said in a statement today, June 5.
“It has been, and forever will be, an honour and a privilege to be his daughters, and to have witnessed first-hand the impact both he and his work have had on so many.”
“We know how dearly he will be missed by friends, colleagues and fans of the shows he was in – 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,” said his daughters.
“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.
“How lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us.”
Head’s partner, Sarah Fisher, di£d in December 2025, aged 61.
Head with his wife and their daughters
“It is immensely shocking to us all, and came with very little warning. No words could ever express all that she encompassed, or begin to describe the crater her absence has left,” the couple’s daughters said in a statement at the time.
Tributes have also been pouring in from those who knew and worked with Head.
Besides his role in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Head also had a recurring role in the show Little Britain. He also appeared in the BBC production of Merlin where he played the role of King Uther Pendragon, Arthur’s father and the former King of Camelot.
He had film roles in The Iron Lady and The Inbetweeners Movie.
More recently, he played former football club owner Rupert Mannion in Ted Lasso.
Born in Camden, London, Head was raised by artistic parents. His father was a documentary film-maker who founded Verity Films, while his mother was an actor who played Madame Maigret in the 60s BBC crime drama Maigret. Meanwhile his brother was also an actor best known for his lead role in 1971’s Sunday Bloody Sunday,
The Head family were committed to the arts and imparted their passion to their son.
“My Christmas present was always a new dressing-up outfit that my mother – who was a brilliant seamstress – would make herself,” Head told the Guardian in 2016.
“At playgroup the woman who ran it took my parents aside one day and said, we love it when Anthony comes in dressing-up clothes, but it would be really nice to meet Anthony himself one day – he gets absolutely immersed in whatever character he’s dressed up as.”
