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Anthony Head
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Anthony Head | |
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 Anthony Head in 2004 |
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| Born | 20 February 1954 Camden Town, London |
| Official site | Official Website |
Anthony Stewart Head (born 20 February 1954) is an English actor and musician who has appeared in theatre, television and films. He is most widely known for his role as Rupert Giles in the American television drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as the Prime Minister in the British comedy show Little Britain, as Dr. Frank N Furter in the London revival of The Rocky Horror Show and for a series of coffee adverts in the United Kingdom and the US. He is credited by his full name on American television, and occasionally as Tony Head elsewhere.
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Head was born in Camden Town, London. His father was Seafield Head, a documentary filmmaker and the founder of Verity Films, and his mother was actress Helen Shingler. His older brother is actor and singer Murray Head. Both brothers played the part of Freddy Trumper in the musical Chess at the Prince Edward Theatre, London, with Murray a part of the original cast in 1986, whilst Anthony was in the final cast in 1989.
Head was educated at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). His first role was in the musical Godspell; this led to roles in television on both BBC and ITV, one of his earliest being an appearance in the series Enemy at the Door (ITV, 1978–1980). In the early 1980s he sang with the band Red Box.[1] In the late 1980s, he appeared in a storyline series of twelve coffee commercials with Sharon Maughan for Nescafé Gold Blend (re-edited to include brand name Taster's Choice in the US). The soap opera nature of the commercials brought him wider recognition, along with a part in the Children's ITV comedy drama Woof!.
Success on the stage and a number of brief appearances on American television, such as in the short-lived VR-5, led to accepting the role of Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997. For this role he lived full-time in the United States during the late 1990s and early 2000s, although his family continued to live in the UK. Head left the regular cast of Buffy during the show's sixth season and subsequently appeared several times as a guest star. In many interviews at the time, Head said he left the show in order to spend more time with his family, having realised that he had spent most of the year outside England, which added up to more than half his youngest daughter's life. He now lives in Bath, England with Sarah Fisher. They have two children, Emily Rose, born in December 1988, and Daisy, born in 1991.
In 2002, he co-starred in the BBC Two television series Manchild, which concerned four fifty-something men who spend all of their time talking about sex. He also appeared in guest roles in various other dramas, such as Silent Witness, Murder Investigation Team, and Spooks. He appeared in the 4th series of the British hit sitcom My Family in 2003 playing one of the main characters (Abi's) father in the episode 'May the Best Man Win'. He was featured as the Prime Minister in the popular BBC comedy sketch show Little Britain from 2003 to 2005, and guest starred in several episodes of the 2004 series of popular drama Monarch of the Glen.
Outside of television work, he has released an album of songs with musician George Sarah entitled Music for Elevators. Early in his career he provided vocals for some of the tracks on the Chris de Burgh album The Getaway and the reading from The Tempest on Don't Pay The Ferryman.
In 2001, he appeared in a special webcast version of the popular British science fiction series Doctor Who, a story called Death Comes to Time, in which he played the Time Lord Valentine. He also guest starred in the Excelis Trilogy, a series of Doctor Who audio adventures produced by Big Finish Productions, and in 2005 narrated the two-part documentary Regeneration, detailing the television revival of the series, for BBC Radio 2. In April 2006 he appeared as an alien school headmaster, Mr. Finch, in an episode of the 2006 season of the Tenth Doctor's adventures entitled "School Reunion". Soon after, he recorded an abridged audio book of the Doctor Who novel The Nightmare of Black Island by Mike Tucker. He narrated the third series of Doctor Who Confidential. He also voiced the character Baltazar, Scourge of the Universe (an evil space pirate searching for the Infinite), in the first ever animated Doctor Who special, "The Infinite Quest". Head had previously auditioned for the role of the Eighth Doctor for the 1996 television movie, but lost out to Paul McGann.
In early 2006, he appeared in an episode of Hotel Babylon, a BBC One drama set in a hotel, in which he played a suicidal man who recovers and lands a music deal. The same year he filmed a pilot for a new show entitled Him and Us, loosely based on the life of openly gay rock star Elton John, for American TV channel ABC, co-starring Kim Cattrall. In July he appeared as Captain Hook at the Children's Party at the Palace, a live pantomime staged in the grounds of Buckingham Palace as part of Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday celebrations. In October 2006, he voiced Ponsonby, leader of M16, in Destroy All Humans! 2.
In 2007, he appeared in the radio comedy Bleak Expectations, portrayed Stockard Channing's gay brother in the English film, Sparkle and is currently appearing as Mr Colubrine in the ITV1 comedy drama Sold.
There is persistent talk of Head starring in a Buffy spin-off series for the BBC entitled Ripper, but so far nothing has come of this. At Comic Con 2007, Joss Whedon confirmed that talks were almost completed for a 90 minute Ripper special on BBC,[2] with both Head and the BBC completely on board. He is also appearing as Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion.[3]
His website recently announced that he would have a role in Sweeney Todd (2007 film), as a ballad soloist and one of Todd's murder victims. Due to the ailing of Johnny Depp's daughter, the schedule became tight and his character, as well as the characters of 13 other actors, were dropped from the film. He still made an uncredited cameo appearance as a character who asks whether Sweeney Todd has an establishment of his own.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Repo! The Genetic Opera | Nathan Wallace/Repo Man | |
| 2007 | Macbeth | Duncan | |
| Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Ballad Ghost | ||
| Amelia and Michael | Michael | ||
| The Magic Door | George | ||
| Sparkle | Tony | ||
| 2006 | Little Britain Live | Prime Minister | |
| Scoop | Detective | ||
| 2005 | Imagine Me & You | Ned | |
| Framing Frankie | Dennis Folley | ||
| 2004 | Fat Slags | Victor | |
| 2003 | I'll Be There | Sam Gervasi | |
| 1992 | Woof Again! Why Me? | ||
| 1988 | La Collina del diavolo | Michael Toyle | |
| 1987 | A Prayer for the Dying | Rupert | |
| 1981 | Lady Chatterley's Lover | Anton |
- Official website
- Anthony Head at the British Film Institute
- Anthony Head at the Internet Movie Database
Articles and interviews
- Who's Head of the class, BBC Where I Live: Somerset (December 2006)
- Interview: Anthony Head, Helen Otter, BBC Where I Live: Somerset (April 2006)
- Biographies of Giles and Head at "Buffyguide"
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Head, Anthony Stewart |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 20 February 1954 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London, United Kingdom |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |