Causing a stir on the other side of the Atlantic, Wednesday 30 December 1998.
(Note: a different version of this article--which had a couple of extra paragraphs and bits, which I've added here in parentheses--appeared on 28 December 1998 in the Newcastle Journal: "Anthony Has a Stake in Buffy's Wellbeing," by Olivia Conley.)
HE had an instant effect on many a female heart when he appeared in that series of coffee adverts, playing the ultimate romantic hero. But now Anthony Head is causing a stir on the other side of the Atlantic.
The actor has achieved cult status in the quirky comic-horror television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a school librarian who just happens to be an expert on all things evil.
Co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar plays high school student Buffy, who has been chosen to rid the world of vampires.
Now the bizarre series is coming to (terrestrial television in) Britain, and it hasn't come a moment too soon for Anthony (--formerly plain old Tony--Head).
"I have already got quite a reaction from people on the internet and from screenings on satellite. But I really do want it to be a success on terrestrial TV in Britain. I don't want people to forget all about me."
Viewers could well be forgiven for forgetting about the dashing 45-year-old actor.
After the end of the famous Gold Blend commercials, in which he co-starred with Sharon Maughan, TV work dried up and he went to live in Santa Monica, near Los Angeles, in search of success. First he appeared in the sci-fi series VR5, then it was the cult hit Buffy that came his way.
But his success in America has been hard won. The London-born actor has had to leave his wife, animal behaviourist Sarah Fisher, and their daughters, Emily, ten, and seven-year-old Daisy at their home in Timsbury (just outside Bath) while he pursued his career on America's glamorous west coast, where he has been for the past five years.
"Britain is their home. It wouldn't be fair to uproot them and they have no great desire to leave a beautiful Regency house and rolling green hills so they can come and sit in LA where they shoot people," he said.
So he has had to split his time between working in Hollywood and quick trips back home whenever he has a few days' break.
"I try and make it for about six days a month," he said. "Anything less than that would be just too disruptive. But they do come over here to see me as well, during school holidays.
"At first I was crashing out on people's floors, then I got a series of pretty grim rented flats. Now I have a nice apartment in Santa Monica."
(The only problem is that the girls have to share a room, which doesn't go down too well. They put up with it though, because they get to go to Universal Studios and Disneyland.)
Anthony believes that it was his (very) success in the Gold Blend advertisements that led to his exile from Britain.
The sultry series of 'will they, won't they?' adverts ran for nearly ten years and sparked a separate series in the States under the coffee's US brand name of Taster's Choice.
"I could succeed at the box office--I could put bums on seats in the theatre," he said (wryly). "But TV roles just weren't happening. I was earning a decent crust off the commercial, so I was able to pick and choose a bit. But if you are not in the public eye and seen on screen then your media profile diminishes. That's when I decided to try my lot in the States."
It was a tough ride to begin with, until Sarah decided to give her husband a piece of advice.
"I was sitting over here twiddling my thumbs," he said. "She was back at home having to cope with work and the girls and the home.
"Frankly, she told me to stop moaning, get off my bottom and do something positive, like taking acting classes. I bristled a bit at that--I had been to drama school after all!"
But he did the bullet and signed up with the Svengali to the stars, Milton Katzelas, whose pupils have included Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney.
("His teaching is about attitude to life as well as acting and he is held in huge regard there. When he walks into a class everyone applauds--that's very West Coast! But his teaching was extraordinary.")
With his career firmly established in the States, Anthony is now keen to make his mark back home in Britain once more.
He is working on an animated film, a rock 'n roll gothic musical called D'Ark Secrets.
"It was originally going to be a stage musical, but now I am putting a treatment together with my co-writer Matthew Bell and we could be in pre-production on it next year," he said.
"By then, I hope Buffy will be a success in Britain, so people don't forget about me."
There will be no more ads for a while though. "I don't drink nearly as much instant coffee now I'm not being paid to," he laughed.
"As for Giles on Buffy--he makes a point of drinking Earl Grey tea!"
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer is on BBC2 at 8pm tonight
Caption: Screen Idol: Anthony Head, from Timsbury, the former Gold Blend heart-throb, now stars in the American quirky comic horror TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
(Caption: Expert in evil: Anthony Head who stars as Rupert Giles, the librarian, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.)
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