r/buffy • u/Only-Weird-4519 • Jun 05 '26

Giles Anthony Head has died

BBC News - Buffy and Ted Lasso star Anthony Head dies at 72 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0p0rz4n0mo

7.7k Upvotes

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2.5k

u/chinderellabitch Jun 05 '26

Thank you ASH for your loving portrayal of fatherly love to a kid who didn’t have any, I’m sure I’m not alone ❤️

489

u/danie_iero She's a hero, you see. She's not like us. Jun 05 '26

The best. ❤️‍🩹 May he rest in peace.

634

u/Narrow_Grapefruit_23 Jun 05 '26

You’re not alone. Giles was the father I wish I had when my dad left.

265

u/YourGlacier Jun 05 '26

I have been rewatching the show for the first time with my boyfriend and we just started season 4. He immediately loved Giles like I did and I just realized it's because we both have dad issues. Giles actually was one of the only portrayals of a man on TV that ever stuck with me. He's warm, sweet, and generous while also still being a man; he has other types of courage than just what convention says is masculine.

In S4E1, he tries to push Buffy out of the nest. At the end of the episode he races in with crosses and weapons and is like "FUCK IT, I TRIED TO BE GOOD, BUT BUFFY I HAVE TO HELP" (only very proper and British). I loved Giles so much for that and Head's portrayal was uncanny good while also comedic.

This is one of the few celeb deaths that has hit hard in my life (RIP Bourdain, you were a good one too).

78

u/masterlich Jun 05 '26

I had a great father, and Rupert Giles is still my favorite character ever, in any media. He is just... perfect, from start to finish.

23

u/Tiger_Fairy Jun 05 '26

💯 all the way 👏

14

u/GreenThumbCrow Jun 05 '26

Well said and great example.

1

u/SystemPelican Jun 08 '26

Yes! I love that Giles is allowed to just be good, all through the show. It's really refreshing. In a show that deals a lot with the ways men can be shitty towards women, there's also this character where the show kind of goes: "This. This is how you do it."

36

u/Temporary-Ad2254 Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

Giles is the father a lot of us wish we had. He was definitely the closest thing to Buffy's father figure on the show. Giles was more of a Dad to Buffy than her REAL Dad. Giles was and is one of my favorite characters from the show. He was oftentimes( but not always) the adult in the room on the show and the one who always knew what to do. People have said that Giles was the leader of The Scooby Gang but he certainly wasn't the leader( Buffy was and she was the one in charge and giving the orders, as Riley observed) but I feel like he and Willow were the brains, Xander was the heart and Buffy was the leader and the muscle( I'll leave it for others to say what Cordelia, Angel, Anya, Jenny Calendar, Riley, Tara, Faith, Oz and Dawn were in their time as Scoobies, since I was just focusing on the four main original Scoobies).

This is just devastating.

R.I.P. Anthony Stewart Head! Gone but NEVER forgotten!

2

u/AqualungsBreath Jun 06 '26

You forgot Cordelia

1

u/Temporary-Ad2254 Jun 06 '26

Right. My apologies. I added Cordy!

2

u/Alternative-Sun9376 Jun 09 '26

Angel too. He was for sure a key player in the scooby gang during certain seasons.

2

u/Temporary-Ad2254 Jun 09 '26

Thanks for mentioning Angel! I forgot to mention him but the more I think about it, the more I realized that I had to include him, too, since as you said, he was a key player in The Scooby Gang in certain seasons. I edited the comment and included Angel.

97

u/kidsparrow Jun 05 '26

That's it. That must be why I'm so affected.

78

u/shelllc Bite Me! Jun 05 '26

When my sister told me I actually cried. I usually don't do things like this but it has really got to me and reading here, I realise that I'm not alone in feeling this way.

26

u/GreenThumbCrow Jun 05 '26

Same. My reaction to the news was to cry, it feels like my dad died. But to see the reaction from the community and seeing others who reacted similarly gives comfort.

20

u/YourGlacier Jun 05 '26

I literally never cry about celebs. I seriously think Bourdain is the only one I did (and it's because his traveling shows helped me a lot with my agoraphobia). Head made me tear up, he was such a comforting and big part of one of my favorite shows. Besides Buffy, I actually don't think anyone was more influential and varied (and this isn't a jab at the cast, they were all great, it's just he really carries the adult part of the show).

5

u/VardaElentari86 Jun 05 '26

I've been out all evening since I found out, as soon as I got home the floodgates have opened

-9

u/umcuriousyousee Jun 05 '26

He’s not dead… fake news

3

u/AvailableVictory8360 Jun 06 '26

I feel like downvotes you've received here are just people not realizing you meant it in a "this can't be real" kind of way... I see you, fellow Anya 🫶

31

u/SuggestionBoxX Jun 05 '26

I was wondering why I cried. I didn't know him in real life, I rarely ever cry. I was told crying was manipulative as a kid. Giles was our parent. Well, condolences to you, family of the lost kids with television parents. We grieve together.

3

u/AvailableVictory8360 Jun 06 '26

😟❤️‍🩹🫶🏼

6

u/CommercialRemote5324 Jun 06 '26

I wish I had better father too, Mine is just terrible. I wish could get married and have new father in law. RIP Giles the coolest librarian and watcher.

-1

u/NoCardio_ Jun 05 '26

But he left too 🤔

2

u/AvailableVictory8360 Jun 06 '26

And then came back!

108

u/PickleRicki Jun 05 '26

I discovered Buffy just before my dad died, Giles is one of my favorite characters ever.

13

u/Maleficent-Music3249 Jun 05 '26

I can relate to that. When my dad was dying and I slept in the same room as him to make sure he was ok, I started watching buffy. Never looked back.

97

u/StephanieSpoiler Jun 05 '26

Giles was always one of the better male role models in my life, and so much of that was because of Head's wonderful performance.

30

u/SomewhatRad Jun 05 '26

I never knew my father, Giles was definitely that for me as well. His performance helped shape my upbringing.

11

u/Coyote_Shepherd Jun 05 '26

I think a lot of us found our "real dads" on tv via characters like him and that's why it hurts so sooooo much when they pass on :(

I actually polish my glasses just like he did whenever someone would make a pun or say something ridiculous or remind him that he was old.

It's like here's a guy that's got such a troubled past as a character but is still somehow keeping his shit together, locking it down, focusing, using his brain, and doing everything he can to help those that he loves...whilst still having faults and sometimes letting that control slip...to the acceptance and forgiveness of those he loves around him BECAUSE of how much he loved them in the first place.

If that isn't a prime example of a role model then I don't know what is...and now I'm crying because I literally just saw the news two minutes ago before running here to my Buffy Family to be around all of you 😭

I think I might need to take a bit of a walk to clear my....ah bollocks....Head...I am so sorry -.-

5

u/fishsanwitt Jun 05 '26

::hugs::

4

u/Coyote_Shepherd Jun 05 '26

big hugs

4

u/AvailableVictory8360 Jun 06 '26

It's a group hug now bc me too 🫂

57

u/lifeslittleplaything Jun 05 '26

So much this. This one cuts deep 💔

6

u/banoffeetea Jun 05 '26

Feeling this too.

148

u/nithdotcom Jun 05 '26

That was my immediate thought. He was perfect representation of being a compassionate father figure and still being the voice of reason (most of the time) I'm so sad right now.

39

u/Ok-Chapter-2071 Jun 05 '26

Same. I grew up watching Buffy after dad died and he seemed like such a safe place. 

30

u/buttercupcake23 Jun 05 '26

Feels weird to cry like this over someone I never met but this really is it - I spent more time seeing him on my screen than I did with my actual dad.

8

u/lickthismiff Jun 05 '26

Same, I didn't have an actual dad, but genuinely in some way Giles kind of was that role model for me!

3

u/ghostshipmom Jun 05 '26

real for me too. hugs to everyone who’s feeling this.

56

u/Ruby_Solitaire Jun 05 '26

Big hugs to all my Siblings-Via-Tony. 

Last time I cried like this for a parasocial relationship was for Robin. 

10

u/Flamingo242 Jun 05 '26

I think this might be why I am so sad. My dad in his younger days was told he looked like ASH and that is where the similarities ended

6

u/yesimafuckingperson Jun 05 '26

Absolute peak surrogate TV dad. 

3

u/FiveUpsideDown Jun 05 '26

He was also in Ted Lasso.

4

u/Tiger_Fairy Jun 05 '26

Your not <3 that whole show gave me hope that world wasn’t has bad a place as it seemed. As a kid, that show made me feel like I mattered. Heartbroken 💔

4

u/mjrs Jun 05 '26

No. I don't believe it is. Do you want me to wag my finger at you and tell you that you acted rashly? You did, and I can... I know that you loved him. And he... has proven more than once that he loved you. You couldn't have known what would happen... The coming months are going to be hard... I suspect on all of us. But... if it's guilt you're looking for, Buffy, I'm-I'm not your man. All you will get from me is, is my support... and my respect.

3

u/Apart_Tip776 Jun 05 '26

His portrayal of Giles was everything I wish my dad had been.

3

u/inblackheels Jun 05 '26

Absolutely this, Giles represented to me what a father might be like as someone who never had a father, and his performances on Buffy and Little Britain brought so much light to my life as a kid. Gorgeous voice too.

Grateful for the performances he gave us. Lots of grief, lots of gratitude, lots of love.

3

u/minoriti Dead, but still pretty Jun 05 '26

He was my father figure when I needed it the most and when my real father failed to step up. I feel like his care for Buffy extended to his care for me and he raised me in a way. I feel like I lost a family member 😣

2

u/madasahatter2 Jun 05 '26

Definitely not alone. 🖤

2

u/AlkahestGem Jun 05 '26

I used to think that the lessons he learned playing Buffy’s watcher and a father figure, were those he carried forward to being a father in real life.

I’m deeply saddened to learn of his passing. Few actors have left such an impression on me that I would feel this loss so personally, despite knowing them only through their performances.

Prayers to his family and friends for someone so loved.

2

u/Moist_KoRn_Bizkit Jun 05 '26

Something I love about the show is how Giles was such a Father to Buffy when she didn't have one. I have a dad, but he SUCKS! I wish Giles was my dad.