R.I.P. Anthony Stewart Head

He was Rupert Giles, of course, but he was also at the gate when I first entered the world of the Television Critics Association press tour

Picture it: the lobby of the Beverly Hilton, the summer of 2007.

I’ve just recently become a member of the Television Critics Association, and I’m arriving to attend my very first TCA press tour as a representative of the website Bullz-Eye.com. I am literally entering a whole new world, as this tour is providing me with an opportunity to attend panels for all of the new TV series for effectively all of the major broadcast and cable networks, to attend evening events thrown by these networks, and - most insanely for a journalist based in Chesapeake, Virginia - to do in-person interviews with actors who I’ve almost exclusively only seen on TV and in films.

At this point in my career, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have needed all of the fingers on a single hand to count off how many in-person interviews I’d done with anyone, let alone famous people, so as you might imagine, my head was already swimming at the fact that I was going to be breathing the same air as these people, let alone actually talking to them. I understand if you’re thinking, “Oh, come on, who are we even talking about here?” As it happens, I found the link to a post where I literally listed off every single thing that was being offered up for that particular tour, and while I won’t bother to copy and paste it, please feel free to check it out by clicking right HERE, and you’ll see that it really did feature a laundry list of pretty impressive names.

But here’s the thing.

The moment I walked into the Beverly Hilton, who do I see? None other than Anthony Stewart Head, the British actor who played Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, someone who is not on that laundry list.

As it turned out, Head was there for a TCA panel (my memory is that he was there because he was a guest star on BBC America’s Hotel Babylon), but in that moment, all I could think was, “Holy shit, that’s Giles!” And without considering whether he was there for a panel or not, I instantly went up to him and asked if I could get a picture for my Buffy-loving wife. (It never even occurred to me to ask for a picture with him, because my cell phone camera at the time was shit, so I was still working with a proper camera, and I never would’ve trusted myself to do a selfie with that.) He didn’t seem even remotely taken aback by my request, and he happily agreed to let me snap a shot of him, so I did so

After that, I thanked him profusely, and I promptly went on my merry way to check into my room.

Given how merry I was, however, I couldn’t wait another moment to call my wife and tell her what had just happened…and anyone who’s listened to my podcast or regularly read my work or even just followed me on social media, you already know the punchline to this story, but here it is anyway:

As I was in the process of sounding like a giddy schoolgirl to my wife as I said, "I just met Giles from 'Buffy!' I suddenly realized that I was walking directly behind Dick Van Dyke…and in that moment, I realized, "Shit, I'm really going to have to step up my game when it comes to not getting overwhelmed every time I see somebody famous."

But having now delivered the punchline to that story, I really feel like I need to revisit the setup again, because in this moment of reflection, I can’t help but really focus in on the fact that I couldn’t have had a nicer first celebrity encounter to welcome me to the TCA press tour. And ever since then, every time I’ve seen Anthony Stewart Head in anything, I always think about that moment with him in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton, one that he absolutely forgot at the precise instant that it concluded but which I’ll carry with me forever.

Thank you, Anthony Stewart Head.

Oh, and to the TCA, yes, I know that - even though I didn’t know he was there for a panel - I still really shouldn’t have taken that picture, so here’s a song by the man himself that’s perfect for the occasion…

And for us all, here’s one more for the road, because even as we mourn his loss, how you can not smile while listening to this?

Farewell, Frank-N. Furter.

Godspeed, Giles.

Good night, Anthony Stewart Head.

And thank you.