Buffy The Vampire Slayer actress Alyson Hannigan has shared a devastating tribute to Anthony Head following his death.
The 72-year-old actor played the librarian Rupert Giles in the wildly popular US supernatural TV series, led by Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, a high schooler who juggles her normal life with her responsibilities as a vampire and demon hunter.
Head appeared in 121 episodes as a main character for the first five seasons before becoming a guest star in the final series.
His fellow cast member, Hannigan, played Willow Rosenberg, an integral inner-circle character who supported Buffy with her superhuman powers.
After Head’s daughters announced on Friday that he had died from complications due to pneumonia, Hannigan took to Instagram with a heartbreaking post, sharing an old photo with the late TV star.
‘This cut is so deep I fear it can never heal. 💔’, she began.
‘Oh Tonal…I am so grateful to have had you in my life! I want to say a million wonderful things about you and yet I can’t seem to find the words that would do you justice.’
‘I love you so much and will miss you forever. RIP’, she concluded.
Grieving fans were quick to send their condolences in the comments, while Gellar, 49, wrote sweetly: ‘He loved you so dearly Aly’.
‘This one hurts a lot. Giles was our favorite father figure we wished we had ❤️❤️’, said @the_finalgirl90.
‘Forever our favorite librarian ❤️🕊️ Sending my condolences to everyone who is close to him 💐 🙏🏼’, commented @adorbshannigan.
‘His affection for you was plain to see, even behind the character. 🖤’, commented @missxvincent.
@elbuenr3 also said ‘it’s been a rough couple of years for the Buffy fam’, following the deaths of Michelle Trachtenberg (who played Dawn Summers) last February and Nicholas Brendon (who played Xander Harris) this March.
It was declared that Trachtenberg, 39, died primarily due to complications of diabetes, while Brendon, 54, died in his sleep at home, with his family indicating it was due to natural causes.
Gellar previously honoured her late co-stars, writing on the one-year anniversary of Trachtenberg’s death: ‘When I think of you, that smile that took up your entire face and brought so much joy to others is what comes to mind. You may not have been with us long enough, but we will make sure everyone remembers.’
Then, when Brendon died, she penned on social media: ‘I saw you Nicky. I know you are at peace, in that big rocking chair in the sky.’
This week, after Head’s actress daughters, Emily and Daisy Head, released a statement, Gellar quoted her character, penning: ‘”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. Thank you to Daisy and Emily who not only shared their dad with me, but with the world.’
In their original release, Emily, who played Carli D’Amato in The Inbetweeners, and Daisy who appeared in Harlots, Shadow and Bone, and The Gray House, said: ‘It is with heavy hearts that we announce the death of our extraordinary father, Anthony Head.
They confirmed that he ‘passed away peacefully’, just six months after his wife and their mother, animal welfare campaigner Sarah Fisher, died aged 61.
‘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,’ the sister continued.
‘We know how dearly he will be missed by friends, colleagues, and fans of the shows he was in – he loved his job very much, and he always considered himself incredibly lucky to have been able to work alongside such exceptionally talented people in such wonderful productions across a career that spanned several decades.’
They concluded: ‘Our grief is far greater than the hole he has left behind, but we know his legacy will live on in the shows he was a part of and in the audiences that love them. How lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us.’
As well as his role in Buffy, Head was famous for appearing in Ted Lasso as Rupert Mannion, the ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s character Rebecca.
His other previous acting credits include the Nescafé Gold Blend television ads, which propelled him to fame in the 1980s, before he went on to star in Little Britain, The Inbetweeners, Merlin, Motherland, Manchild, Silent Witness, Spooks, Doctor Who, and more.
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