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Anthony Head, Giles in 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and Rupert in 'Ted Lasso', dies at 72

Anthony Head, the British actor best known as the librarian and Watcher Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has died at 72, his daughters Emily and Daisy announced on Friday, June 5, reported TheWrap. They said he “passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family.”

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the death of our extraordinary father” — Emily and Daisy Head, via TheWrap

TheWrap said he appeared in 121 episodes of Buffy, and recalled Ripper, a planned Giles spin-off for the BBC with Joss Whedon that rights issues stopped. His later roles included the prime minister in Little Britain, King Uther Pendragon in Merlin and the vain club owner Rupert Mannion in Ted Lasso. On stage he played Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show.

Empire noted he was born in Camden Town, London, in 1954, trained at LAMDA and first became famous in the late 1980s in the Nescafé Gold Blend adverts with Sharon Maughan. The Nightly said those serialised ads, a slow-burning romance over cups of coffee, ran from 1987 to 1993. It also noted his partner, animal welfare campaigner Sarah Fisher, died in December 2025, and that his daughters are both actresses.

How each outlet framed it

• TheWrap — Buffy first, with a full list of TV and stage credits.
• Empire — family background and a career of more than fifty years.
• The Nightly — the coffee ads that made him a UK household name, and his family.

Where the reports differ: TheWrap and Empire said the daughters gave their statement to BBC News; The Nightly said they told the Press Association. None of the three gave the exact date of death.