TV Obsessive
Anthony Stewart Head had a long acting career, with roles in both TV and film. Saddened by his recent death, we want to highlight some of them that made an impact on us. This is, by no means, a comprehensive list. If you want to highlight one of his roles, no matter how minor, please feel free in the comments.
Vr.5
Brien Allen: My first experience of Anthony Head was in little known sci-fi TV series called Vr.5. This show ran on the Fox television network in the dreaded Friday Night Death Slot before The X-Files. It didn’t even get a full season, coming in as a mid-season replacement, running from March to May in 1995. Adding insult to injury, Fox only aired 10 of its 13 episodes.
Granted, the death of Vr.5 in 1995 paved the way for Head to get picked up in his breakout role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s hard to imagine that show without him as Rupert Giles. He might have been feeling a little typecast though, because he serves a pretty similar role in Vr.5.
Sydney Bloom, played by Lori Singer of Footloose fame, discovers that she has the ability to go into Virtual Reality Level 5 (a.k.a. “Vr.5”), tapping into other people’s subconsciouses via phone call. She is somewhat forcibly recruited to work for “the Committee,” a quasi-government dark ops organization, near as we can tell. When her original handler is killed by an assassin, Oliver Sampson (Head) takes over the position in Episode 5. So, he’s a British guy, working as a handler for a young woman with amazing abilities, for a shadowy organization that is (probably, in this case) trying to save the world from evil forces.
Anthony Head seems to have a lot of fun with the role, getting multiple opportunities to display his trademark smirk. We’re never really sure if he’s a good guy or a bad guy for his first few episodes. He’s much more hands on in this handler role, getting Sydney into and out of trouble several times, and killing more than a few people in the process. Towards the end of the series, he even gets a romantic interest in the form of Markie Post playing a former agent and lover.
As Vr.5 progresses, Oliver Sampson gets more protective of his charge, eventually smuggling her away when the Committee finally turns on her. The series ends with a big cliffhanger that sadly wasn’t enough to overcome the large expense of the special effects for each episode. Though dated now, the show had truly cutting-edge CGI at the time. The cast had several additional heavy hitters, including Will Patton, David McCallum, and Academy Award winner Louise Fletcher. The show really had so much potential and is still worth watching in my mind. All 13 episodes are available for free on YouTube (though captured from a VCR recording).
Doctor Who
Robin Moon: Because I never watched Merlin as a kid (I know, I’ll rectify it one day), and before watching Buffy as a teenager, the first role I ever saw Anthony Head in was the one episode of Doctor Who: ‘School Reunion’, from series two. He played the monster-of-the-week, a krillitane leader disguised as the Headmaster of a school, Mr. Finch. It’s one of my favourite episodes, which, granted, applies to most of David Tennant’s era of Doctor Who, but Head’s performance as the main villain certainly elevates the story.
Mr. Finch is a sinister figure who attempts to exploit schoolchildren’s accelerated intelligence to crack the Skasis Paradigm. Not only that, but he offers to ally with the Doctor and work together, using the universe-altering equation for good. These high stakes and chemistry with the protagonist aren’t all that make Mr. Finch such a memorable villain. Head’s depiction involved manipulative charm, cold calculation, and all-consuming rage. Even in such a small role, he fully embodied the character; his physical acting alone was so impressive, conveying high status and composure in the way Mr. Finch holds himself. The unrelenting screech that he does to rally the krillitane is honestly chilling, and stayed with me past the episode as a child. To paraphrase Brett Goldstein’s tribute, it’s all the more impressive that a man known for being a sweetheart in real life was capable of portraying skin-crawling villainy.
In regard to other Doctor Who roles, Head also narrated the third and fourth series of Doctor Who Confidential and voiced Balthazar in the first-ever Doctor Who animated special, ‘The Infinite Quest’. His voice alone had such a soothing, expressive quality to it that made it instantly recognisable.
It’s clear from Anthony Head’s performance that he put all his effort into significantly smaller roles as well as the roles that had more longevity, which is part of what made him such a special actor. He breathed life into so many characters across his career, no matter how minor, and the impact he had on the television industry will undoubtedly continue. His endless warmth and kindness will be remembered.
Ted Lasso
Ryan Kirksey: Over its three seasons (we are going to pretend Ted Lasso Season 4 isn’t happening, because why again?), the aw-shucks head coach of the AFC became so beloved and so admired that it would truly take someone on the complete opposite side of the spectrum to make a worthy adversary for Ted Lasso. Enter Anthony Head.
Head was so effective in Ted Lasso because he brought a level of intelligence and menace to Rupert Mannion, the rich, egomaniacal ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s Rebecca. Head was able to turn Mannion into everything Ted Lasso was not. Ted was optimistic, and Mannion was cynical. Ted was genuine, and Mannion was slippery and deceptive.
The reason why the rivalry between Ted Lasso and Rupert Mannion worked so well was that Mannion consistently challenged Ted’s core philosophies, but Ted was up to the challenge every time. When the two finally confront one another in the darts scene in “The Diamond Dogs,” it’s easy to see why that scene has become one of the most viral clips of the last decade. Ted represents the worldview we want to win, but it’s only because Anthony Head so brilliantly played Mannion as a diabolical villain.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Caemeron Crain: I’d guess that, despite his more recent role in Ted Lasso, Buffy the Vampire Slayer remains the series that people associate Anthony Head with the most. And for good reason! Despite the fact that he’s not the main character, I’d argue that it’s Rupert Giles who makes Buffy work, and that’s down to how Anthony Stewart Head portrays a man who might feel rife with contradictions.
He is! But that’s because we all are, when it comes down to it. Surrogate father figures and mentors are a dime a dozen in TV, and often they’re more archetype than person. But, that’s not the case with Giles. He’s flawed like the rest of us, and even if he is an authority figure to the Scoobies, he’s also their friend.
There are a lot of great actors in the world, so I’m sure someone else could have pulled off the role of Rupert Giles, but I honestly can’t imagine anyone but Anthony Head portraying this character. I’ll refer you to Clay Dockery’s recent piece and the one Robin wrote a few years back about their favorite Giles moments, because I feel like those articles do a better job of laying out why I love Giles than I could do briefly here, but, on a personal level, I can say that through Giles, Anthony Head gave me a vision of the kind of man I want to be.
He’s not perfect, but he’s thoughtful and kind. He values knowledge and seeks wisdom, without arrogance. He strives to do what’s right, but worries about whether he has, while understanding the darker impulses of humanity, because he’s prone to them himself…
You can put as much of that down to the writing of Buffy as you want. Anthony Head makes the character live. And even if the man in real life—who, by all accounts, was a great guy—has passed, he’ll live on as Rupert Giles, and the other characters he portrayed, forever.
