Actor Anthony Head, known for ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ has died at 72

LONDON — British actor Anthony Head, known for his roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ted Lasso, has died at the age of 72, his family announced on Friday.

Head’s daughters, actresses Emily and Daisy Head, told the Press Association News Agency that the actor died of complications from pneumonia.

The performer became known to British television audiences in the 1980s as one half of a romantic couple in a series of advertisements for Nescafe instant coffee.

Anthony Head during a photo shoot for the movie “Merlin” at the 51st Monaco Television Festival in Monte Carlo, Monaco, Friday, June 10, 2010.

Head achieved American fame as librarian Rupert Giles, the mentor of the main character in the cult-favorite supernatural series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which ran from 1997 to 2003.

He most recently played Robert Mannion, the evil ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s Rebecca, in Ted Lasso.

“Our sadness is far greater than the hole he left behind, but we know his legacy will live on in the shows he was a part of, and in the audiences that loved him,” his daughters said. “How lucky we are to know that we are able to watch him do what he loves, even when he is no longer with us.”

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