RIP Anthony Head: Our 10 favorite moments of Buffy‘s Giles

Head's true genius—and that of his character, Giles—lay in quietly filling in the gaps in every scene

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[unsunder]

I'm glad you included "Once More with Feeling". Anthony Head was a talented actor who elevated the series. He was droll, sometimes serious, always caring and protective.

 

[bcr4977]

Rest in peace sir!

 

[Ragashingo]

Great picks all around. And, of course, Once More with Feeling deserves the top spot. Such a standout episode whose musical numbers, and the team who created them, are still felt to this day. And yes, the loss of Anthony Head was a tragedy. He will be sorely missed.

 

[derivedcolumn]

Anthony Head will definitely be missed.

As much as Season Six was a low point, the episode immediately following Once More With Feeling - Tabula Rasa - was another very good episode. Spike and Giles have a hilarious relationship in that one.

Rest in peace.

 

[alansh42]

The scene at the end of "The Gift" is my favorite Giles scene.

Head and Amber Benson have both done musicals. Head was in Jesus Christ Superstar and Rocky Horror. So it was great to see them sing.

 

[nxg]

As much as Season Six was a low point, the episode immediately following Once More With Feeling - Tabula Rasa - was another very good episode.

That episode includes a supporting role for a loan-shark, who for no particularly good narrative reason is costumed as a shark. Then – if I'm recalling it correctly – in one fight scene someone jumps over him.

And that, dear friends, is chutzpah.

 

[Tam-Lin]

God damn it. I didn't realize he was as old as he was, 72, but it's still too young. How did everyone else get so old?

 

[alansh42]

I just remembered Buffy found out about "Band Candy" in an episode where she gets the power to read minds. She reads her mother's mind, resulting in "What's a stevedore?"

 

[DCRoss]

And don't forget that Anthony Head was in Rocky Horror as well.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWZbBZNM6w

 

[Tagbert]

Rest in Peace Ripper

 

[Delphine Unseen]

I think it was UPN that the show moved to after season 5, the CW didn't exist yet

 

[NobleNobbler]

How terribly indecorous of him to just up and pass like this. I'm charmingly befuddled at the whole situation.

 

[InnocentishBystander]

Amidst all the love for his Buffy work, I’d like to record my bottomless appreciation for Head’s personification of Mr Gently Benevolent - ironically a complete bastard. A treat of a performance in the BBC radio series Bleak Expectations.

 

[lonelytheonly]

He will be missed. Buffy was such a cultural phenomena at the time. I remember being at a shopping center and overhearing talk that Buffy would be on this evening. Good times. Was early days for the Internet too so the place and vibe were still "nice". Buffy online fandom as overly supportive and positive.

Sad to see the greats from this time passing away. Lance Reddick from The Wire passed away a couple of years ago too, and many, many others. A reminder we'll never see these particular great cultural phenomena again.

We learned from the musical episode that Anthony really could sing, but if you're one of the few who didn't already know it, Anthony's brother is Murray Head: One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble...

Good night, sweet prince. You will not be forgotten.

 

[Findecanor]

And don't forget that Anthony Head was in Rocky Horror as well.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWZbBZNM6w

That's from 2006.

He played Frank-N-Furter regularly on the stage in London in 1990. There was even a record release.
He got back, and played the Narrator in the show in 2015.

 

[Troper1138]

The article:

We learn in subsequent episodes that they had sex on the hood of a police car.

Twice.

 

[Fluppeteer]

I can't disagree with any of the picks.

I'll add Who Are You? ("Our, um, uh... Our families are-are-are-in there. Our, uh, mothers and-and tiny, tiny babies") and Chosen ("I used to be a highly-respected watcher, and now I'm a wounded dwarf with the mysical strength of a doily"). And maybe also Restless, where Giles figures out what's going on but can't fix it.

I remember the Gold Blend adverts, though obviously Giles was his most iconic character. In addition to Merlin (and Rocky Horror), Warehouse 13 and Dominion stood out for me. I did watch Repo! The Genetic Opera recently, mostly because he was in it (and it was disappearing from Amazon). Um. Don't. But the rest of his work stands the test of time.

An icon. Losing him (so soon after Nick Brandon, with Glen Quinn, Andy Hallett and Michelle Trachtenberg all taken way too soon) is a real loss, and really threw me when I heard about it last week. Those friends who hadn't already heard were in shock when I told them, too. I know I'm getting old, but not that old (right?)

Coincidentally I was just finishing watching Shadow and Bone. I hadn't realised that Daisy Head was his daughter until the news broke. I'd been singing songs from Once More, With Feeling to myself while on a drive last week (I don't sing in the house with my wife, because I... can't...), and I know at least one colleague went off to watch it again over the weekend, with his son.

Thank you for your talent, and the feelings it invoked, Tony. And, apparently, for your kindness to and mentoring off the rest of the Buffy cast. RIP(per).

 

[OmegaRed1723]

Amidst all the love for his Buffy work, I’d like to record my bottomless appreciation for Head’s personification of Mr Gently Benevolent - ironically a complete bastard. A treat of a performance in the BBC radio series Bleak Expectations.

Seconded. He was also wonderful as Captain Hercules Shipwright in another BBC Radio series, Cabin Pressure.

 

[SlappyFrog]

Rest in peace, Giles.

Simultaneously, rot in hell, Rupert

 

[BadBart]

As iconic as Giles was, I think it was as Rupert that his acting ability really showed. Making Rupert a consistently smooth, personally charming, but utterly bad person without turning him into a mustache-twirling stereotype was no small accomplishment.

 

[Cloudgazer]

To audiences of a certain age he was first famous for a serious of increasingly racey coffee adverts. Gold Blend in the UK, Tasters Choice in the US.

Clearly a huge talent who frankly deserved a bigger career even than he had.

 

[PurpleBadger]

I think my favorite scene with Head as Giles is in S3E2 "Dead Man's Party". After discovering Buffy's mother has a cursed voodoo mask, Giles while driving to Buffy's house mocks Buffy's mother and her fondness for the mask:

"Do you like my mask? Isn't it pretty? It raises the dead!"

Delicious.

 

[Harry Facepalmer]

View: https://open.spotify.com/track/1gVyUrpQ6auBGbdngOxvSG?si=w63J495gRoG4tJj6SsJTLQ

EDIT: And don't forget its companion piece "Under your spell/Standing", a duet with Amber Benson.

 

[graylshaped]

As iconic as Giles was, I think it was as Rupert that his acting ability really showed. Making Rupert a consistently smooth, personally charming, but utterly bad person without turning him into a mustache-twirling stereotype was no small accomplishment.

If I may phrase this slightly differently: he made a character that started as a two dimensional plot point come across as human. The question of whether Giles was "bad" is a matter of perspective and situation.

“You’re the only person in the world that can look that annoyed with me” and "She’s a hero, you see. She’s not like us” are among the defining moments of (IMHO) one of the best series TV ever produced, and his portrayal of Giles is one that every dad coming to grips with his daughter growing up feels in his gut.

I'll leave this one here, too: "Pardon me for finding the glass half full."

 

[DCRoss]

If I may phrase this slightly differently: he made a character that started as a two dimensional plot point come across as human. The question of whether Giles was "bad" is a matter of perspective and situation.

“You’re the only person in the world that can look that annoyed with me” and "She’s a hero, you see. She’s not like us” are among the defining moments of (IMHO) one of the best series TV ever produced, and his portrayal of Giles is one that every dad coming to grips with his daughter growing up feels in his gut.

I'll leave this one here, too: "Pardon me for finding the glass half full."

Tony Head played both Rupert Giles in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Rupert Mannion in "Ted Lasso".

One of those Ruperts was a sympathetic supporting character and father figure with a surprisingly good singing voice while the other one was, as BadBart put it, an utterly bad person.

 

[user_b]

Season 2 Episode 15 Phases in which Giles is outed as a librarian by the werewolf hunter. The look on his face! Anthony Head comes from a talented family. His brother had a great hit single One Night In Bangkok from the musical Chess.

 

[Fluppeteer]

View: https://open.spotify.com/track/1gVyUrpQ6auBGbdngOxvSG?si=w63J495gRoG4tJj6SsJTLQ

EDIT: And don't forget its companion piece "Under your spell/Standing", a duet with Amber Benson.

If we're quoting OMWF...

"If I want your opinion, Spike, I'll... I'll never want your opinion."

 

[Stupendous_Mn]

I just remembered Buffy found out about "Band Candy" in an episode where she gets the power to read minds. She reads her mother's mind, resulting in "What's a stevedore?"

Actually, the line "What's a stevedore?" was uttered by the body of Faith Lehane, which Buffy's soul (mind? consciousness?) was currently inhabiting after a body-swap in the fourth-season episode "Who are you?" This line of questioning was effective in convincing Giles that it really was Buffy inside Faith's body.

 

[NewCrow]

Even though I think of Donald Sutherland as Buffy's watcher, I do agree with comments above that Head's career should have risen higher. Talented actor.

 

[taliska]

RIP Anthony.

Been rewatching Buffy from the start today in honour of the man and I guess a lot more time has passed than I realised as he wasn't young in that to start of with, but he always seemed to stay somewhat fixed in time age-wise, so it was easy to miss him getting older.

I read on reddit, someone comparing the feeling about hearing about his death, to hearing about Alan Rickman's death, and being similarly affected...I have to say, I concur.

 

[mandlecreed]

Being an old UK chap, I do remember him as the Nescafe guy. But also the headteacher in Dr. Who - Buffy wasn't my thing. Almost feels weird to now say 72 is a bit young to go but here we are. RIP, sir.

 

[graylshaped]

Tony Head played both Rupert Giles in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Rupert Mannion in "Ted Lasso".

One of those Ruperts was a sympathetic supporting character and father figure with a surprisingly good singing voice while the other one was, as BadBart put it, an utterly bad person.

Ah. Now I see that meaning. Thanks for the nod.

Okay. We'll pretend my comment was offered apropos of nothing, and we'll let the echo of the one character bounced off the other resonate even more deeply

 

[Fluppeteer]

Even though I think of Donald Sutherland as Buffy's watcher, I do agree with comments above that Head's career should have risen higher. Talented actor.

Rumours (and they were a long time ago, so I may misremember) were that Donald Sutherland really messed with the tone of the film, and used his star power to pull it in a different direction. Which is a shame given what the TV series turned out to be. The movie is okay, but very generic. (Sarah Michelle Gellar playing the flashback version of Buffy is hysterical, though.)

That said, Joss may just have been finding his feet. It's a shame that being a genius at something seems to make you a horrible person (even though I/we don't know, and don't need to, most of the details). I hope Anthony provided some protection (deliberately or otherwise) to the cast - they seem to have had only good things to say about him.

 

[Fluppeteer]

Being an old UK chap, I do remember him as the Nescafe guy. But also the headteacher in Dr. Who - Buffy wasn't my thing. Almost feels weird to now say 72 is a bit young to go but here we are. RIP, sir.

I'm tempted to say give it another go. The first few episodes were definitely "monster of the week", but once it got going it was one of the finest shows I've ever seen (whose legacy is fortunately not going to get sullied by the remake). I actually rented the first couple of episodes on VHS before it was actually broadcast in the UK, and got interested early; it was on a loop on the Sci Fi channel for many years (to the extent that I thought "end of an era" when they stopped). Of course, we're all different.

Some youngsters I know (which at my age means university students - young enough to claim that they "were emo the first time round, before COVID") claimed to have tried to watch it and given up. I'm going to slam them over the head with culture until they get civilised. (I'm also going to keep ranting about She-Ra and the Princesses of Power getting taken off streaming until I find someone who can fix it. Then I'll do the same thing to the students with that.)

Also, in belated honour of Nick Brendon:

"They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie... to be the one who isn't chosen, to live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me... I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You're not special... You're extraordinary."

 

[Hichung]

I missed the last few seasons of Buffy when they first aired, although I went back and caught a few of the key episodes. I'm now currently working my way through all the Buffy and Angel episodes again. It's strange that even after 25 - 30 years or so, as soon as the episode starts, I remember my first time watching as a teenager and then as an early 20 something.

I sometimes forget how cheesy vampires were compared to modern takes, but it's still a fun watch.

 

[iCowboy]

A real loss - he hit the headlines in the UK as the Nescafe Gold Blend man (remade as Taster's Choice in the US); went superstar in 'Buffy' and had a delightful recurring role as Hercules* Shipwright in BBC Radio 4's 'Cabin Pressure' where his beautiful voice went head to head with the Benedict Cumberbatch and Richard Allam.

* Named by his eccentric father after the aircraft, not the hero, with two brothers (Wellington and Harrier) and a sister, Sarah ("He was eccentric, not mad").

 

[Unikins]

R.I.P. one of my favorite Buffy characters an a all around excellent actor an musician. Anthony Head was not only fantastic in Buffy but he was also wonderful in Rocky Horror as well as The Repo Man.

 

[timby]

“The Gift” is the S5 finale, marking the end of Buffy’s tenure at The WB network; the series subsequently moved to The CW.

Buffy moved to UPN; The CW didn't yet exist at that point, as it arose from the ashes of UPN and The WB back in 2006 or so.

 

[Entegy]

Thanks for putting together the list! Head will be missed, but Giles won't be forgotten.