It is with great sadness that we have to post another memoriam, another we wished we didn’t have to… Anthony Stewart Head, known to Buffy fans as the Watcher Giles, has passed away at the age of 72. In a statement to the BBC, his daughters Emily and Daisy said:

“He passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family,” his daughters Emily and Daisy said. His daughters’ statement said “it is with heavy hearts that we announce the death of our extraordinary father”.

“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.”

They also said they knew “how dearly he will be missed by friends, colleagues and fans of the show he was in”, adding that he “loved his job very much” and “always considered himself incredibly lucky”.

Tributes have been pouring in from several who worked with him, including his Buffy co-stars

Posting a tribute David Boreanaz, who starred alongside Head in Buffy, said: “RIP. He was so kind and generous of a soul.

Fellow Buffy co-star James Marsters said: “He was an unflaggingly kind and steady presence on the set of Buffy, and the best actor in the cast… I was lucky to have known, and learned from him.

Amber Benson posted a simple picture of the two together on the set of musical episode ‘Once More, With Feeling’. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Charisma Carpenter also left messages online, alongside Julie Benz, J. August Richards, Jane Espenson, Marti Noxon amid thousands and thousands of fans.

Other British celebrities, co-stars from his work also came forward with their tales.

Little Britain creator and star Matt Lucas described Head as “unfailingly brilliant, and always so kind and warm.”

“When we were casting Little Britain, we were looking for a ‘Tony Head-type ‘, because we never imagined for a moment that the man himself would be interested, but he was. Lucky us,” Lucas said.

Head’s other credits included playing Geoffrey Howe in The Iron Lady and appearing in Doctor Who, Persuasion, The Inbetweeners and Manchild.

Head first found fame in the UK in the 1980s as the face of Nescafe coffee adverts on TV. He was part of the Gold Blend couple alongside Sharon Maughan, with their coffee-themed romance ads becoming popular between 1987 and 1993. Maughan told BBC News she was “broken-hearted” at the loss of Head. “I guess they were iconic, I don’t think that was the intention at the beginning,” she said. “Tony and I were just two actors who got this job, and we had a really lovely friendship. I loved working with him. I thought he was a lovely man.”

Be safe.

Regards,

The Curator.