Brian Buchanan

Digital media strategist and writer; journalist. Views my own and retweets not an endorsement.

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

Anthony Head got so famous in Britain for a coffee advert that his serious acting work dried up. So he moved to America and ended up on a hit show about hunting vampires. He died this week at 72, and that coffee advert is the least interesting thing he ever did.

It was for instant coffee. The story started in 1987 with a woman knocking on her neighbour's door to borrow some, and it ran for six years like a tiny soap opera, each instalment ending on a will-they-won't-they cliffhanger. The country got hooked. When the last one aired, around thirty million people tuned in to see if the couple would finally get together, and a newspaper ran it on the front page. There was even a spin-off novel and a hit album, all from a coffee advert.

That kind of fame can trap an actor. The bigger parts stopped coming, so Head went to America and landed Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He played Giles, the school librarian and guardian of a teenage girl who secretly hunts vampires, the calm grown-up quietly keeping her alive. He once said he based the character on Hugh Grant, all stammering and bookish. For seven seasons he was the warmest father figure on television.

Years later he got to play the exact opposite. Ted Lasso is a comedy about a kind American coach loose in English football, and Head was the villain, Rupert, a rich and cheating ex-husband. His former wife wants to hurt him so badly that she hires Ted hoping the team will collapse. Head started as an occasional guest, then joined the main cast, ending up in 18 episodes.

He said the bad guy was the fun part, because a villain has more going on, and he liked playing men who were nothing like him. You can see the care in it. Rupert starts out as a cartoon and slowly turns into something sadder, a man with money, a young wife and a new baby who still cannot enjoy a single thing he owns. By the end everyone around him grows up. He just shrinks.

None of that was him. His Ted Lasso castmate Brett Goldstein said Head "played the worst person in the world," and pulling it off so well took real talent, because in life he was the kindest man on the set. When the news broke, Sarah Michelle Gellar, the young actress he had looked after on Buffy, posted a photo of the two of them. "I'm not okay," she wrote.

He died months after losing Sarah Fisher, his partner of more than forty years. He leaves behind two men named Rupert, one a gentle teacher and one a cruel charmer, and a long line of people who knew him saying the same thing. The gentle one was closer to the truth.

[Ten Thutty @thenotoryousone]

The last survivor from the famous A Great Day in Harlem picture 🙏🏾

[Sonny Rollins @sonnyrollins]

It is with deep sorrow and profound love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins. The Saxophone Colossus died this afternoon at his home in Woodstock, NY at the age of 95. 1/2 https://t.co/6AGmFrB7x4

[Melodies & Masterpieces @SVG__Collection]

One of the greatest singers to ever walk this earth.

[Ladytron Fan Account @Lady_FanAccount]

"Everywhere" was written by Christine McVie during the chaotic sessions of Tango in the Night (1987). While the other members of Fleetwood Mac lived in hell (Lindsey and Stevie quarreling, Mick Fleetwood destroyed by illicit substances), she composed this happy music. The most joyful and pop track on the album was born in the midst of the greatest drama in the band's history. It became one of their biggest hits in the 80s!

[julie k. brown @jkbjournalist]

I am among the McClatchy journalists withholding my byline from AI-generated content. I cover sensitive stories that should never be repackaged or altered in any way by artificial intelligence. Whether the story is about sexual abuse or immigrants caged at Alligator Alcatraz, our journalists take great care to ensure that their material is accurate, fair and conveys invaluable aspects of humanity that AI simply can't do.

[Vintage Rock 🎸 @VintageRockN_85]

They were only together 2 1/2 years

[🎼🌺Music Love♥️ @ThoNg676733]

I never get tired of listening to it, and every time I listen, I get lost in my own world, because it's so amazing.❤️

[🌸🎵 Beautiful Melody 🎶💖 @Ducnghia16]

No matter how many times I hear it, I'm still blown away by her voice. She possessed one of the finest singing voices in music history.

Can you name this song? 🤔

[🌸🎵 Beautiful Melody 🎶💖 @Ducnghia16]

This never gets old. There's a great video of her talking about it being one of the greatest experiences of her life. And how perfect he was.

[🌸🎵 Beautiful Melody 🎶💖 @Ducnghia16]

This song is timeless. 🎶

40 years later, and they still sound exactly like the album — pure magic that never fades. ✨

[Brian Buchanan @buck_ers]

https://t.co/vxR6UM0oSs

[Danny Deraney @DannyDeraney]

My yearly reminder to you on Karen’s 76th birthday, that we once lived in a world where Ella Fitzgerald and Karen Carpenter sang together.

And it's magic.

[🌸🎵 Beautiful Melody 🎶💖 @Ducnghia16]

Rod Stewart’s 1975 ballad “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” recorded in Muscle Shoals for the Atlantic Crossing album, hit No. 1 in the UK in 1977.

Written by Danny Whitten, it remains one of his most emotionally raw performances—often released as a double A-side with “The First Cut Is the Deepest.” 🎶

[🌸🎵 Beautiful Melody 🎶💖 @Ducnghia16]

“California” by Joni Mitchell — from her iconic 1971 album Blue — found new life when Amanda Seyfried performed it on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

With a dulcimer in hand, she turned a late-night segment into a quietly stunning, intimate moment — delicate vocals, steady confidence, and pure emotion. 🎶✨