Anthony Head, the British actor best known for his roles in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Ted Lasso," has died at the age of 72 from complications due to pneumonia. His daughters, both actresses themselves, announced his passing Friday in a statement to the Press Association.

Head's death came fewer than six months after the loss of his long-term partner, Sarah Fisher, who died at the age of 61, as the Daily Caller reported. The couple shared two daughters, Emily Head and Daisy Head, who confirmed their father died peacefully with his family at his side.

A family's farewell

Emily and Daisy Head released a statement that was equal parts grief and gratitude, the kind of public farewell that suggests a man whose private character matched his public reputation.

"He passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family."

The sisters spoke plainly about what their father meant to them and to the audiences who watched him work across a career that spanned several decades. There was no Hollywood gloss to it, just two daughters who clearly admired the man, not the celebrity.

"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."

That kind of statement tells you something. In an industry where family dysfunction is almost a cliché, Head's daughters chose to describe their father as a man who loved his craft, appreciated the people he worked with, and never took his good fortune for granted.

A career built on craft

For a generation of television viewers, Anthony Head was Rupert Giles, the bookish, quietly fierce Watcher on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" who served as mentor, father figure, and moral compass to Sarah Michelle Gellar's title character. The role made him a fixture in American pop culture, even as he remained deeply rooted in British stage and screen traditions.

Later audiences came to know him through "Ted Lasso," the Apple TV+ comedy that became a cultural phenomenon. His career stretched across decades of work in film, television, and theater, a body of work his daughters described with evident pride.

"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."

Head was a familiar presence at fan conventions and industry events over the years. Photo records place him at Comic-Con International in San Diego in 2014, at a London film premiere in 2011, and at the Woman's Own Children Of Courage Awards at Westminster Abbey in 2009, the kind of range that reflected a man comfortable in many rooms.

Loss upon loss

The timeline makes the family's grief all the sharper. Sarah Fisher, Head's long-term partner and the mother of his two daughters, died at just 61, fewer than six months before Head himself passed. Page Six had reported Fisher's death earlier.

For Emily and Daisy Head, the past half-year has meant losing both parents in rapid succession. That they managed a public statement of such grace and composure speaks to the kind of family their parents built.

"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."

They closed with a line that will resonate with anyone who has lost someone whose work lives on in recorded form:

"How lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us."

What remains unanswered

The family's statement did not specify the exact date or location of Head's death, and no hospital or official medical statement has been publicly cited beyond the daughters' account. The precise circumstances of Fisher's death earlier this year also remain largely private. The family, understandably, has shared what they chose to share and no more.

Anthony Head spent decades doing honest work in a business that doesn't always reward honesty. His family's words suggest he knew what mattered, and so did they.