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Tributes to Buffy and Ted Lasso star Anthony Head after death aged 72
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Annabel Rackhamand<br>Ian Youngs,Culture reporters
Watch: A look back at Anthony Head's career
British actor Anthony Head, best known for his roles in TV shows including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ted Lasso, Merlin and Little Britain, has died at the age of 72.
Head found international fame as Rupert Giles in hit supernatural teen show Buffy in the late 1990s.
"He passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family," his daughters Emily and Daisy said.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played the eponymous Buffy, led tributes to Head, writing: "Thank you to Daisy and Emily who not only shared their dad with me, but with the world."
Getty Images
Anthony Head played Rupert Giles in Buffy
From Nescafe to Ted Lasso: Anthony Head's life in pictures
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".
Getty Images
Actresses Daisy Head and Emily Head with their father Anthony at a film screening in 2013
His family acknowledged that "his legacy will live on" and said they considered themselves "lucky" to have watched him doing what he loved throughout his career.
Gellar posted a selection of pictures of her with Head on Instagram, including a scene from Buffy where her character asks Giles whether life gets any easier.
"'Tell Giles I figured it out and I'm ok'. Well, I don't have it figured out and I'm not ok. But I know I'm the lucky one because I knew you," she wrote.
"Thank you to Daisy and Emily who not only shared their dad with me, but with the world."
David Boreanaz, who also 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."
Following Buffy, Head went on to have a recurring role in sketch show Little Britain as the prime minister and king Uther Pendragon in the BBC's Merlin.
Little Britain creator and star Matt Lucas - in which Head played the prime minister - 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.
He also starred in Ted Lasso from 2020 as former Richmond FC owner Rupert Mannion, the ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham's character Rebecca Welton.
Brett Goldstein, their co-star and a writer on the show, said: "Anthony Head was a brilliant actor who played the worst person in the world, which was an incredible skill because he was the best person."
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...