Anthony Head, the British actor best known for his roles in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Ted Lasso,” has died. He was 72.
His daughters Emily and Daisy Head announced his death in a statement to the BBC, saying their father “passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family.”
Head played Rupert Giles — the Watcher and father figure of the Slayer Buffy Summers — on all seven seasons of “Buffy” alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar. On “Ted Lasso,” he played Rupert Mannion, the grumpy former owner of AFC Richmond who cedes ownership of the club to his wife, played by Hannah Waddingham, during their divorce.
Head’s other credits include playing the Prime Minister in the sketch comedy series “Little Britain” and Uther Pendragon in the fantasy adventure program “Merlin.”
While he was mostly recognized for his work on television, Head began his career in the theater, acting in the musical “Godspell” in the late 1970s. He’d go on to perform in productions of “Chess,” “Peter Pan” and “Rocky Horror Show Live.” Before he broke out on screen, Head gained recognition in the U.K. as the star of a series of Nescafé commercials that ran from 1987 to 1993.
“It has been, and forever will be, an honour and a privilege to be his daughters, and to have witnessed firsthand the impact both he and his work have had on so many,” Emily and Daisy wrote in their statement. “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.”