Anthony Head

Anthony Stewart Head (20 February 1954 – 1 June 2026) was an English actor and singer. Primarily a performer in musical theatre, he rose to fame in the United Kingdom in the 1980s following his role in the Gold Blend couple television advertisements for Nescafé, which led to major roles in several television series.

Head was best known for his role as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), as well as the prime minister in Little Britain (2003–2006), Uther Pendragon in Merlin (2008–2012), and Rupert Mannion in Ted Lasso (2020–2023). He was also known for his distinctive baritone voice, in advertising and voice roles such as Herc Shipwright in BBC Radio 4's Cabin Pressure (2011–2014). His film career included roles in Persuasion (2007), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Iron Lady (both 2011), and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013).

Early life and education Anthony Stewart Head in Camden Town, London. His father was Seafield Laurence Stewart Murray Head (1919–2009), a documentary filmmaker and a founder of Verity Films, and his mother was actress Helen Shingler (1919–2019). His older brother is actor and singer Murray Head.

Head was educated at Sunbury Grammar School in Surrey, In discussing why he chose acting as a career, in a 2013 interview he said: "When it's in your family, it's a choice, it's there. It's not a jump to say: 'I want to act.' When I was six I was in a little show my mother's friends organised, playing the Emperor in The Emperor's New Clothes. I remember thinking: 'This is the business, this is what I want to do.'"

Career

1970s–1990s: Early roles and Buffy One of Head's earlier roles was in the musical Godspell in 1978 with Su Pollard. In the same year, he made his television debut in the London Weekend Television series Enemy at the Door as Clive Martel, of the island resistance.

In the early 1980s he provided backing vocals for the band Red Box. He was featured as well on the album Face in the Window (1983) by Two Way. In 1981, he featured as one of the 'Bobs' in the Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch 'Made by Roberts'.

In the late 1980s, he gained wider recognition as the man in the Gold Blend couple series of coffee commercials, alongside Sharon Maughan, for Nescafé Gold Blend between 1987 and 1993. (A version made for North America featured the American brand name Taster's Choice from 1990 to 1997). In 1991, Head's rendition of "Sweet Transvestite" was released as a single by Chrysalis Records. Head played the role again in the summer of 1995 at London's Duke of York's Theatre, a May 2006 tribute show at London's Royal Court Theatre, and an October 2000 production at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. While playing this role he lived in the United States during the late 1990s and early 2000s, although his family continued to live in the UK. Head left the regular cast of Buffy during the show's sixth season and subsequently appeared several times as a guest star until the conclusion of the series.

2000s: Mainstream success In 2002, he co-starred in the BBC Two television series Manchild, a show revolving around four friends approaching their fifties who try to recapture their fading youth and vitality while dealing with life as 'mature' men. That same year, he released the album Music for Elevators in collaboration with George Sarah. He appeared in the fourth series of the British hit sitcom My Family in 2003, playing one of the main characters' (Abi's) father in the episode "May the Best Man Win". with both Head and the BBC on board, though this did not come to fruition. In 2007, he portrayed Stockard Channing's gay brother in the English film Sparkle, For this role, he was nominated for the Monte-Carlo TV Festival Award for Best Performance by an Actor in Television Films. Head portrays an organ repossessor, employed by a fictional dystopian medical firm.

Head was part of the regular cast of the BBC drama series Merlin, about the mythical wizard Merlin. Head played King Uther Pendragon, the father of Prince Arthur.

2010–2024: Later career and Ted Lasso Head also provided voice-over work for the Nintendo Wii video game Flip's Twisted World, developed by Frozen North Productions. For his acting in the film Despite the Falling Snow he won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 2016 Prague Independent Film Festival. In 2012, Head released the single, "Cry", written by Marina Florance for the Oldie Composers Competition. Also in 2014, he released the album Staring at the Sun.

Head reprised his role as Giles in the Audible exclusive audio series Slayers: A Buffyverse Story alongside his former Buffy co-stars James Marsters, Charisma Carpenter, Amber Benson, Juliet Landau, Emma Caulfield Ford, James Charles Leary and Danny Strong. The series was released in October 2023.

In his final roles, Head appeared as Lord Sheffield in an episode of the second season of Bridgerton (2022) and as Julian Marx in the Amazon Prime Video film Upgraded (2024). She was an animal-welfare advocate. Head and Fisher never married owing to her indifference to marriage; however, Head considered the pair to be a married couple. They had two daughters, Emily and Daisy, both of whom are actresses.

Head died on 1 June 2026 from complications of pneumonia, aged 72.

Following his death, various Buffy co-stars paid tribute to Head. Ted Lasso co-star and writer Brett Goldstein said that Head was a "brilliant actor who played the worst person in the world which was an incredible skill because he was the best person".

Discography Face in the Window – EP (1983 album) with the band Two Way "Sweet Transvestite" (1991 single) Chrysalis Records, 7-inch single, 12-inch single, CD single, and shaped picture CD

Filmography

Awards and nominations