# Shit, Anthony Stewart Head has died {Giles on Buffy and much else} **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [June 5, 2026, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639 "2026-06-05T15:53:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/21 "2026-06-05T18:43:05Z")
RIP Rupert Giles/Mannion 😢 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/22 "2026-06-05T18:51:10Z")
To be honest, I wondered if the uncertainty about the date of his death was because he died alone and was discovered only much later. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/23 "2026-06-05T18:54:03Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > To be honest, I wondered if the uncertainty about the date of his death was because he died alone and was discovered only much later [According to the statement from his daughters](https://apnews.com/article/anthony-head-obit-buffy-vampire-lasso-a1c56edf560de048e730a2cf337e4223), he died from complications due to pneumonia, which would suggest to me that he had been in a hospital, or under medical care. But, we may never know. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/24 "2026-06-05T19:16:46Z")
he had a wonderful role in “cabin pressure”. love that radio series. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/25 "2026-06-05T20:39:49Z")
My daughter and I just listened to the whole series, her first time. We love it and yes, he’s amazing. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/26 "2026-06-05T21:09:52Z")
He was great in everything. I didn’t watch Buffy, so Merlin was where I became the most familiar with him. And here he is being hilarious in [the Off Menu podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ep-43-anthony-head/id1442950743?i=1000463985431). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2026, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/27 "2026-06-06T00:33:30Z")
The Buffyverse has had a lot of deaths - “Doyle,” “Lorne,” “Dawn,” “Xander,” and now “Giles” - and most of them died quite young ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2026, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/28 "2026-06-06T00:50:22Z")
I first saw him in the commercials, but his first acting role was in _VR5,_ sort of an audition for Giles in _Buffy._ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2026, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/29 "2026-06-06T01:07:02Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > He was great in everything. I didn’t watch Buffy, Imagine any story that could really use a bookish ‘exposition’ guy — who maybe toggles between polite stammering and fatherly snarking — and then ask what happens if he’s also a cold-blooded killer and a hot-blooded lover. (But still a polite stammerer; I can’t stress that enough.) ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/30 "2026-06-10T05:55:18Z")
Thanks to _Buffy_, I really kinda got used to the idea that he was one of those folks, like Robert Louis Stevenson or James Earl Jones, who are always known by their first, middle and last names. Seeing him billed as just Anthony Head or even Tony Head just never sounded right to me. I want all three barrels! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/31 "2026-06-10T11:25:26Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > He played evil so well. He will be missed. > [@rocking\_chair](#): > > he had a wonderful role in “cabin pressure”. love that radio series. _Cabin Pressure_ is an all-around excellent show but if you want Head at his best “radio evil” you need _[Bleak Expectations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleak_Expectations)_ in which he played the evilest man in the world Mr Gently Benevolent. His evil laugh was extraordinary but indescribable. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/32 "2026-06-10T12:36:57Z")
One of his wonderful minor roles was as the British Prime Minister in _Little Britain_. Great, solid feet-first jump into the role to get maximum laughs out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/33 "2026-06-10T14:14:58Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > I really kinda got used to the idea that he was one of those folks, like Robert Louis Stevenson or James Earl Jones, who are always known by their first, middle and last names. Maybe he was credited that way so that he wouldn’t be confused with actor [Anthony Heald](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Heald). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639/34 "2026-06-10T15:33:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Maybe he was credited that way so that he wouldn’t be confused with actor [Anthony Heald](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Heald) No, he used his middle name because the Screen Actors Guild and the Actors’ Equity Association require actors to use names that are different from any already registered actor’s name. There was already an actor named Anthony Head. Quite a few actors had to change part of their names or add a new part of their name to avoid violating that rule. Other actors changed their names for other reasons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shit-anthony-stewart-head-has-died-giles-on-buffy-and-much-else/1030639.md?page=1)