A Sense of Doubt blog post #4128 - Anthony Stewart Head RIP

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4128 - Anthony Stewart Head RIP


Another actor from Buffy the Vampire Slayer has died. What's going on?

Thanks for tuning in.

LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.

BLOG VACATION #1 - 2026 - Taking a blog vacation for a couple of weeks, until at least June 26th, 2026. Mostly reprints. A few simple shares (not that simple shares are out of the norm) and THAT ONE THING. Need time for other things.

https://ew.com/anthony-head-dies-buffy-ted-lasso-star-11991985

Anthony Head, Buffy and Ted Lasso star, dies at 72

The actor died due to complications from pnemonia, according to his daughters.

By Tiffany Kelly

Tiffany Kelly is a staff editor at Entertainment Weekly. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Wired, GQ, and Ars Technica.

June 5, 2026 12:06 p.m. ET

Anthony Head, known for playing Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has died at 72. The news was confirmed by his family members, who shared a statement to media outlets.

"He passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family," Head's daughters, Emily and Daisy, said in a statement shared with the BBC.

"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," they added.

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to Head's reps for additional comment.

Born on Feb. 20, 1954, in Camden Town, London, Head grew up in a family that worked in the entertainment industry. His father, Seafield Laurence Stewart Murray Head, was a documentary filmmaker, and his mother, Helen Shingler, was a film and TV actress. His brother, Murray Head, is also an actor and singer. Head began his career by acting in several musicals, including a West End revival of The Rocky Horror Show in 1990, in which he played Frank N. Furter.

His big break came in 1997 when he took on the role of Rupert Giles on Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, which is based on Whedon's 1992 film of the same name. While working as the librarian at her school, Giles becomes a mentor to Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) as her Watcher. The show ran for seven seasons, but Head was only a guest star in the last two seasons.

In 2020, Head started recurring on Apple TV's Ted Lasso, as Rupert Mannion, the ex-husband of Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham). Bill Lawrence told EW at the time that naming the character Rupert, like his Buffy character, was a coincidence.

"We thought he would be great, playing a little against type as a truly villainous, reprehensible character that you would still believe could charm people," Lawrence said.

Head also appeared on several other TV shows throughout his career, including Merlin, Motherland, and Jack Ryan. His last credited film role was in the 2024 Prime Video rom-com Upgraded.

Sarah Fisher, Head's longtime partner and the mother of the couple's daughters, died in December 2025.

The Buffy cast has been hit with a wave of tragedies over the past couple of years. Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander on the supernatural drama, died in March at 54. Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy's sister Dawn, died in February 2025 at 39.

"This business is very tough, and we've had — it feels like we've had more tragedy than other shows," Gellar said at an event earlier this year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/arts/television/anthony-head-dead.html

Anthony Head, Buffy’s Watcher and a ‘Ted Lasso’ Heel, Dies at 72

The British actor was a mainstay of influential television shows who first found fame as a Nescafe pitchman.

By Sopan Deb

June 5, 2026

Anthony Head, the British actor who rose from the smooth 1980s pitchman for Nescafe Gold Blend instant coffee to become a mainstay performer on influential television shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Ted Lasso,” has died. He was 72.

The cause was “complications due to pneumonia,” his daughters, the actresses Emily Head and Daisy Head, said in a statement released to the BBC on Friday. The statement did not say where or when he died.

Mr. Head’s breakout came when he was cast as Rupert Giles in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the unexpected supernatural hit starring Sarah Michelle Gellar that ran from 1997 to 2003.

 

In the show, Giles was the fussy librarian at Sunnydale High School. But his real job was as Buffy’s “watcher,” appointed by a mysterious council to guide the young vampire slayer.

 

While auditioning for “Buffy,” Mr. Head pitched playing the role with the persona of Hugh Grant’s character in “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” Prince Charles or as Alan Rickman “in his more decisive moments,” Mr. Head said in a 2001 interview with The Evening Standard. Joss Whedon, the show’s creator, liked all of the ideas — so Giles became a combination of the three.

The nebbishy charm of the performance endeared Mr. Head to audiences.

“It opened the door to work internationally,” Mr. Head told the British tabloid Metro in 2013.

The coming decades would allow Mr. Head to show a wide range of performing abilities. That included a Tony Blair-inspired prime minister on the comedy series “Little Britain.” In one episode, Mr. Head wore a black pouch and wielded a feather duster.

“I did feel sorry for my children because they had to go into school the next day,” Mr. Head said in an interview with The Guardian in 2008.

 

Mr. Head noted the difference between the parts to Metro.

“They couldn’t be more different but it kept people guessing,” he said. “You can very easily get pigeonholed in this business. It afforded me massive amounts of choice in terms of what I’m asked to do.”

Additional roles included Uther Pendragon on “Merlin,” David Whele in the science fiction show “Dominion” and Lord Sheffield on an episode of “Bridgerton.”

The most high profile recent role came when he landed a part on “Ted Lasso,” the Apple TV comedy that won legions of fans during the height of the pandemic. Mr. Head played the recurring character of Rupert Mannion, the smarmy former owner of A.F.C. Richmond, who lost the team to his ex-wife in a divorce.

 

Late in his career, Mr. Head played Rupert Mannion, the smarmy former owner of the fictional English professional soccer team AFC Richmond, in the series “Ted Lasso.”Credit...Colin Hutton/Apple TV

“He’s a particularly unpleasant character and a complete narcissist, but you know where he’s coming from,” Mr. Head told The Guardian in 2021. “To make somebody believable, you have to see their point of view. You don’t need to like them, but you have to be on board with what’s driving them.”

Anthony Stewart Head was born on Feb. 20, 1954, in London. His mother, Helen Shingler, was best known for portraying Madame Maigret in the BBC detective series “Maigret” from 1960 to 1963. His father, Seafield Head, was a documentary filmmaker.

“People think that must have made it easier for me to become an actor, but actually, that’s nonsense,” Mr. Head told The Guardian in 2016. “My mother said, ‘Well, if you must.’ And my father said I needed to have a second string to my bow, so if I didn’t succeed at acting, I’d have something else I could do. Bless his heart, he was fairly controlling.”

His father did hire him to be an assistant editor on some projects as a teenager. Working in cutting rooms, Mr. Head recalled to The Guardian in 2021, “was fascinating.”

This is partly what led Mr. Head to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. One of his most formative experiences, he said, was seeing Tim Curry in the musical “The Rocky Horror Show” while in drama school as a teenager. He told The Guardian that it “ignited something in my core.”

“I knew I had acting in my blood because of my mother. Now I couldn’t wait to finish drama school and try to make it in the real world,” Mr. Head recalled.

Early in his career, Mr. Head starred in a West End revival of the musical “Godspell” in 1978, which led to bit parts in television shows.

But in the mid-1980s Mr. Head won fans for several years as the centerpiece of a campaign by the instant coffee brand Nescafe, alongside the actress Sharon Maughan. He recalled that role, at first, may have stopped him getting more satisfying acting parts.

 

“I don’t think I was tainted by it but my agent did say someone had said: ‘This is a serious drama. We don’t want people reaching for their coffee jars,’” Mr. Head told The Guardian in 2001. “But America is less snobbish about commercials.”

His brother is the actor Murray Head, who played Bob Elkin in the 1971 Oscar-nominated film “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

Mr. Head’s longtime partner, Sarah Fisher, an animal-rights activist, died last year. Both of their daughters, Emily Head and Daisy Head, are also actors. In the 2008 mini-series “The Invisibles,” Mr. Head performed alongside Emily, his eldest daughter.

“For an actor it’s a real joy for the emotions you are feeling to be real. You are not having to think,” Mr. Head recalled to The Guardian in the 2008 interview. “I’ve got these great scenes when Emily starts to twig who I am. I’d look into her eyes and I’d start to well up.”

 Gold Blend compilation

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2606.06 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3992 days ago & DAD = 646 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4124 - Drinking Coffee May Have Surprising Benefit

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4124 - Drinking Coffee May Have Surprising Benefit

Just a share.

I am multiple days behind and plan a "blog vacation" starting Thursday.

But COFFEE!!!

Thanks for tuning in.


https://health.yahoo.com/wellness/nutrition/healthy-eating/articles/drinking-coffee-may-surprising-benefit-223749483.html

Drinking Coffee May Have a Surprising Benefit, New Study Says

Your daily cup of coffee might be influencing more than just your energy levels.

Eating Well

Jane Leverich

Wed, May 6, 2026 at 3:37 PM PDT

Key Points

• Research suggests that consistent coffee intake may influence brain and digestive health.

• Both caffeinated and decaf coffee contain beneficial plant compounds called polyphenols.

• This study suggests coffee’s influence on the microbiome may support brain and immune health.

Though many of us think of coffee as a daily ritual—something to look forward to for its rich aroma, comforting warmth and, of course, its caffeine boost—most of the time, we’re not thinking about what it’s actually doing in the body.

But coffee’s impact goes far beyond a cozy mug and a quick energy lift. Research suggests it may actually influence everything from brain function to digestive health, thanks to compounds like polyphenols—plant-based antioxidants that can help protect against cellular damage and support overall health. In fact, moderate coffee consumption has even been linked to a lower risk of several chronic conditions, including type 2 diabetes, liver disease and cardiovascular disease.

As more evidence piles up, we’re learning that coffee doesn’t influence the body in just one way. Some of its effects are direct, meaning that compounds in coffee interact with different systems in the body, like the brain. Some of its other effects are indirect—working through the gut microbiome, the community of microbes that plays a key role in digestion, metabolism and immune function. These microbes help break down components of the foods and drinks we consume, producing compounds called metabolites that can influence health in a variety of ways. That said, much of the current research has looked at coffee’s direct and indirect effects in isolation—focusing on the gut or the brain separately rather than as a whole.

That’s where new research comes in. A recent study published in Nature Communications explored how coffee consumption may influence the gut-brain axis—a complex communication line linking the gut to the brain—by examining changes in the microbiome, the metabolites it produces and potential downstream effects on mood, cognition and behavior. Let’s break down what they found.

How Was the Study Conducted?

To better understand coffee’s potential influence on the gut microbiome—and in turn, things like mood, cognition and immune function—researchers designed a study that looked at both habitual coffee intake and what happens when intake is disrupted.

The study included 62 healthy adults between the ages of 30 and 50. About half were non-coffee drinkers, while the other half were moderate coffee drinkers (individuals who typically consume three to five cups per day). From there, the study was broken into three phases:

• Baseline (phase one): Before the intervention period began, researchers had participants continue their usual habits, including coffee intake. During this phase, they collected stool and urine samples to analyze the gut microbiome and metabolite levels, along with measures of brain health, including mood, stress and cognitive performance. They also assessed participants’ diets.

• Withdrawal (phase two): Next, participants who were coffee drinkers were asked to stop drinking coffee for two weeks. This elimination period allowed researchers to observe how removing coffee affected the gut microbiome, metabolite production and related health markers.

• Reintroduction (phase three): In the last phase, coffee was reintroduced. However, some participants were given caffeinated coffee while others were given decaffeinated coffee. This helped researchers determine whether any observed effects were due to caffeine specifically or other compounds found in coffee, like polyphenols.

During each of the three phases, researchers continued to track changes in the gut microbiome, metabolite composition, mood, cognition, stress and markers related to immune function.

What Did the Study Find?

In a nutshell, researchers took coffee drinkers, made them stop drinking coffee, then gave it back—and tracked what happened in their gut, their brain and their behavior the whole time. Because the study looked at so many different markers, the findings were wide-ranging. However, a few key themes stood out.

Perhaps the most notable finding was around coffee and its effects on immune health. Specifically, levels of certain inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), differed between coffee drinks and non-coffee drinkers. Researchers also observed shifts in metabolites associated with anti-inflammatory pathways, suggesting that coffee’s effects on the gut may influence and support immune function.

Interestingly, the study results suggest that coffee intake did shape the gut microbiome, as coffee drinkers appeared to have a distinctly different microbiome makeup compared to non-coffee drinkers. Additionally, when coffee was removed during phase two of the intervention, some of the observed microbial patterns went away, and when it was reintroduced during phase three, the patterns began to return. This suggests that regular coffee intake may influence which microbes thrive in the gut.

Alongside changes in the microbiome overall, researchers observed shifts in metabolites—compounds produced as the body and gut break down food and drink components—with the removal and reintroduction of coffee. One of the most interesting things about this finding was that it was observed in participants who were reintroduced to both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, meaning that some of the effects were not just due to caffeine, but they were potentially due to polyphenols, which are also found in decaffeinated coffee.

While the study did also measure mood, stress and cognitive performance, these findings were less consistent across participants. Researchers noted that some changes observed appeared to be linked to the shifts observed in metabolites rather than coffee intake alone. This finding—or lack thereof—continues to highlight the complex relationship between the gut and brain.

It’s important to note that this study did have some limitations. In addition to the fact that it included a relatively small number of participants, the intervention period was short, making it difficult to observe meaningful changes. It’s also important to note that all participants were healthy adults, meaning the findings may not apply to other populations.

How Does This Apply to Real Life?

While this study did find links between coffee intake, the gut microbiome and markers related to immune function, the bigger takeaway is that your daily habits can shape your gut over time. One of the most important things to remember is that many of the beneficial effects observed in this study were tied to metabolites—compounds produced when gut microbes break down components of foods and drinks we consume. In other words, the potential benefits didn’t come from coffee alone, but from how the gut responded to it.

So how does that translate to everyday life? Rather than focusing on any one food or drink, it’s more helpful to think about larger patterns that support a healthy gut microbiome. Some of our favorite strategies for supporting gut health include:

• Eat a balanced diet. Consuming a range of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, healthy fats, probiotics and prebiotics helps support a more diverse gut microbiome.

• Prioritize fiber-rich foods. Foods like beans, whole grains, fruits and vegetables provide fuel for beneficial gut bacteria.

• Limit processed foods. Diets high in added sugars and ultra-processed foods may negatively impact gut bacteria and inflammatory pathways.

• Support overall lifestyle habits. Sleep, stress, physical activity and hydration all play a role in gut and immune health.

It’s important to note that coffee’s observed benefits in this study—and in other research—may be due to the fact that it’s something many people consume consistently—every day—unlike other “healthy” foods or drinks that are usually eaten more sporadically. That consistency may help explain why its beneficial effects from compounds like polyphenols are easier to detect over time.

Our Expert Take

A recent study published in Nature Communications suggests that coffee intake may influence the gut-brain axis by helping to shape the gut microbiome and the metabolites it produces. That said, coffee isn’t a magic solution, and it’s not necessary to start drinking it if you don’t already. Ultimately, this study reinforces a bigger picture that your gut and the compounds it produces respond to what you do consistently. Small, sustainable habits—like a daily cup of coffee—add up over time and contribute to meaningful changes in your gut microbiome and overall health.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2606.02 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3988 days ago & DAD = 642 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.