His family acknowledged that "his legacy will live on" and said they considered themselves "lucky" to have watched him doing what he loved throughout his career.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played the eponymous Buffy, posted a selection of pictures of her with Head on Instagram.
"'Tell Giles I figured it out and I'm ok'. Well, I don't have it figured out and I'm not ok. But I know I'm the lucky one because I knew you," she wrote.
"Thank you to Daisy and Emily who not only shared their dad with me, but with the world."
David Boreanaz, who also starred alongside Head in Buffy, said: "RIP. He was so kind and generous of a soul."
Fellow Buffy co-star James Marsters said: "He was an unflaggingly kind and steady presence on the set of Buffy, and the best actor in the cast... I was lucky to have known, and learned from him."
Little Britain creator and star Matt Lucas described Head as "unfailingly brilliant, and always so kind and warm".
"When we were casting Little Britain, we were looking for a 'Tony Head-type ', because we never imagined for a moment that the man himself would be interested, but he was. Lucky us," Lucas said.
Head's other credits included playing Geoffrey Howe in The Iron Lady and appearing in Doctor Who, Persuasion, The Inbetweeners and Manchild.
He also starred in Ted Lasso from 2020 as former Richmond FC owner Rupert Mannion, the ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham's character Rebecca Welton.
Brett Goldstein, their co-star and a writer on the show, said: "Anthony Head was a brilliant actor who played the worst person in the world, which was an incredible skill because he was the best person."
Head first found fame in the UK in the 1980s as the face of Nescafe coffee adverts on TV.
He was part of the Gold Blend couple alongside Sharon Maughan, with their coffee-themed romance ads becoming popular between 1987 and 1993.
Maughan told BBC News she was "broken-hearted" at the loss of Head.
"I guess they were iconic, I don't think that was the intention at the beginning," she said. "Tony and I were just two actors who got this job, and we had a really lovely friendship...
"I loved working with him. I thought he was a lovely man."
sceptical_squirrel on June 5th, 2026 at 16:07 UTC »
His wife died in December, they were together for over 40 years. I wonder if he lost some of his fight after that.
mvrander on June 5th, 2026 at 15:50 UTC »
Awful news. He seemed fit and healthy on screen very recently
Losing Dawn, Xander and Giles all in a year is rough going for fans and crew of Buffy
XBXJetBlaqq on June 5th, 2026 at 15:50 UTC »
RIP King Uther Pendragon.