Coffee Talk--Anthony Stewart Head Spills the Beans About Taster's Choice and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
[Sidebar] Just the Facts:
Birthday: February 20.
Soap Dish: "I used to get Santa Barbara in England. I adored Robin Wright (Penn, ex-Kelly). I occasionally watch Sunset Beach or Young and Restless in my trailer. Then, there's some woman with very odd teeth (Days of Our Lives's Susan). What's going on with her?"
The Ad That Never Aired: "They talked about me climbing up a balcony with a jar of coffee, but we never did it."
Future Project: "I've written a gothic, Rocky Horror-esque musical, D'Ark Secrets, about a 40-something virgin who's saving himself for a princess."
[End sidebar]

During the commercial breaks of your favorite soaps, the often complicated, ever intriguing romance of the Taster's Choice neighbors brewed--hot and steamy--for years. Then, their portrayers, Anthony Stewart Head and Sharon Maughan, were released from their contracts, leaving the future of this percolating pair up in the air.

Head, for one, was anxious to resolve the caffeinated cliffhanger. Although the British actor is now starring as Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he still gets recognized from playing Michael in the commercials. "The last installment aired about a year ago," he relates, "and I fear it will be the last time we delve into these people's lives. My character had just met her ex-husband (played by Sharon Maughan's real-life spouse, Trevor Eve), which took our storyline into a new area. Trevor naturally shared his own chemistry with Sharon, so it was really easy for me to play feeling awkward and uncomfortable. We thought we were in for a feud. They had at least three more episodes planned. We were supposed to shoot two, and suddenly we didn't."

Taster's Choice conducted a contest that gave viewers the opportunity to decide whether Michael or ex-husband Andrew wouldwin the lady's love. In the March 3 issue of Soap Opera Digest, a Taster's Choice ad revealed that Michael was the winner, adding: "Rumor has it that they've eloped, and Michael is constantly showering her with affection, flowers and, of course, Taster's Choice." Talk about soap opera. Viewers on both sides of the Atlantic enjoyed this coffee klatch, complete with sexual tension, mixed signals and double entendres. "We really could have given fans a final episode," sighs Head.

It's understandable that he feels a bit let down. Head created the role in the late 1980s, when the campaign debuted in England. It quickly became a national--then an international--sensation. "The character started off a long way away from me," recalls the 43-year-old Head, "but I tried to put some of my humanity into him...a bit of a klutz...a bit of a jerk, actually. Smooth, but basically always riding for a fall."

But it was fans who ended up falling--in love with the twosome. Ladies would stop him on the streets of London with a wink and a whisper, "How about a cup of coffee?" In England, where the product is sold under the name Gold Blend, a romance novel based on the coffee lovers was published under the title, Love Over Gold. In it, the once-nameless lovers were give names, although Head can't quite recall what they were. "Was she Katherine?" he ponders. "I don't believe my character was called Michael...."

All that, of course, is in the past. Head is enjoying his success on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which has become one of the WB network's bright spots. And he's become a father figure to his young co-stars, including Sarah Michelle Gellar (ex-Kendall, All My Children). "Sarah recognized me right away as the Taster's Choice guy when we first met at our screen test. Bless her," says the actor smiling warmly. "She and the others in the cast brought in the contest page and stuck it up in various places. Everyone had a good laugh and said, 'You got my vote!'"

Head admits that he likes being a celebrity more in America than in jolly old England. And while the coffee fame hurt his chances of getting serious work at home, American agents embraced him. "My country has a very strange attitude towards success," observes Head. "They like to build you up and then they kind of like to pull you down again. I left London at one point because the press was going through my garbage. Luckily, at the time, my daugher, Daisy, was in diapers, so I figured they'd find a treat. I thought, 'You'll enjoy looking through that, won't you?'"

For the past 15 years, Head has been sharing his morning coffee with his girlfriend, Sarah, who is an animal trainer and the mother of their two daughters, Emily, 9, and Daisy, who is now 7. When he's not in the U.S. shooting Buffy, Head resides in England with his family on their estate, which is located just outside Bath. "I miss them so much," he laments. "It's very difficult. Their school is there, our home is there, but it just so happens my job is here." For several reasons, Head and his long-time girlfriend have thus far avoided walking down the aisle to make their union legal. "Sarah doesn't really want to be known as 'Mrs. Head,' which is fair enough," the actor laughs. "We met when I was 28 and she was 18, and we've always felt that if it's not broke, why mend it? We might one day, who knows? Perhaps privately, without an announcement."

And hopefully, they will never have grounds for divorce.

[Sidebar] How Do I Love Thee?
The Taster's Choice couple was kept apart longer than General Hospital's Luke and Laura--with about as many entanglements. Laughs Head, "It started with me loaning her a jar of Taster's Choice for a dinner party. When she returned it, I could not invite her in because I had someone in my living room. Then, I went to apologize, but this guy opened the door. He turned out to be her brother." It got more complicated when her son joined the mix. "He said, 'Oh, I heard about you.' And I said, 'I haven't heard about you!' He tells his father, 'Mom's got a new boyfriend.' And the ex says, 'Oh, really. We'll see about that!' There were some wonderfully tense moments. Very Noel Coward-ish." Indeed.
[End sidebar]

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Source: Lisa Rose