By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
When Buffy the Vampire Slayer became the hottest show of the ‘90s, it transformed many of its young cast members (including Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan) into household names. Their performances were always strong, but it turns out they had a secret weapon: Anthony Stewart Head, the veteran British actor who played Buffy’s onscreen mentor, Giles. Offscreen, he still played mentor to his fellow actors, like when he helped the very American James Marsters master Spike’s trademark British accent. While Head had many great roles before and after this iconic show, countless fans will always remember him as Giles, the man who always helped the Slayer to save the world.
Sadly, Anthony Stewart Head has died at the age of 72. This is only six months after the death of his partner, Sarah Fisher, whom he had been with for over four decades. Head is survived by his daughters, Emily and Daisy Head. They released a statement to The Independent verifying that their acclaimed actor father had died from complications due to pneumonia. As the Buffy fandom grieves, they may take comfort in one thing: according to his daughters, “he passed away peacefully…surrounded by his family.”
Slay, King
Anthony Stewart Head was someone who was always reinventing his career in new and exciting ways. Like many great performers, he got his start in theatre, and he dazzled in plays like Godspell in the late ‘70s and The Rocky Horror Show in the early ‘90s, where he played Frank N. Furter. Musicals were a strength for Head because he had a beautiful voice and had trained himself to use it. In fact, when he wasn’t impressing everybody on the stage or screen in the ‘80s, he was providing the backing vocals for the band Red Box. In short, this is why Head was so good whenever Giles got to sing in Buffy!
His television career was especially quirky. While he had previously appeared in obscure British shows like Enemy at the Door, he didn’t become a very familiar face until he started selling coffee, of all things. Head starred in a series of memorable television ads for Nescafé’s Gold Blend; the coffee was renamed Taster’s Choice for America, where we continued to receive commercials featuring him until 1997. That was the same year that Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered, and the success of this hit genre show helped supercharge Giles actor Anthony Stewart Head’s career.
From Tweed To Leather
For seven years, Anthony Stewart Head was a stalwart presence on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The presence of an older, highly skilled actor helped all of the young performers effectively step up their game. Head’s presence arguably contributed to this TV show’s multi-generational appeal: Buffy appealed to younger audiences because of its younger cast, but older fans could see themselves in Giles, a wise, careworn mentor forced to save the world alongside a bunch of hormonal teens. While Head had a more limited presence in the last two seasons of Buffy (owing to his wanting to spend more time with his family in England), he continued making appearances through the series finale.
There were plans for a Buffy spinoff named Ripper, which would have focused on Giles, and Anthony Stewart Head would have been its leading man. Those plans ultimately fell through, but the actor continued enjoying an eclectic career doing things like narrating Doctor Who audiobooks. His musical chops in the Buffy episode “Once More With Feeling” helped him land a leading role in the bonkers film adaptation of Repo! The Genetic Opera. While he returned to the Slayer’s universe one more time to lend his voice to the Audible exclusive Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, his last major onscreen role was playing Rupert Mannion on the hit comedy Ted Lasso.
Remembering The Father Of Fandom’s Found Family
Anthony Stewart Head leaves behind a rich creative legacy. A master of multiple trades, he has won fans over with his skills as a theatrical performer, an accomplished singer, and as one of television’s biggest icons. While nobody will miss him more than his loving daughters, the entire Buffy fandom mourns the loss of one of the show’s greatest actors. Sadly, he is the third shocking Buffy death in the last year and a half: Dawn actor Michelle Trachtenberg shockingly passed away last year, and Xander actor Nicholas Brendan passed away earlier this year.
In my own grief at Anthony Stewart Head’s passing, I can’t help but think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s most sobering advice: “the hardest thing in this world is to live in it.” It’s certainly harder to live in this world knowing that we have lost such a talented performer, one who has inspired many of us to push ourselves further than we ever thought possible, just as his onscreen Watcher inspired Buffy to become stronger by the day. Fortunately, we can revisit his most inspirational performances whenever we need more of Giles’ wisdom. In this way, the father of the biggest found family in all of fandom will always be a part of our lives.
