A Valentine for Karen Valentine

(This post is part of the 2026 Luso World Blogathon hosted by Crítica Retrô and Spellbound with Beth Ann)

The title "America's Sweetheart" has been applied to a number of actresses over the years. For a brief time in the late Sixties and early Seventies, it could have easily been applied to actress Karen Valentine, who played student teacher Alice Johnson on the comedy-drama TV series Room 222. If you ask many younger male Baby Boomers (who may have seen Room 222 in its first run) or older Gen Xers (who may have seen it in reruns) about their boyhood crushes, chances are good Karen Valentine numbers among them. What separates Miss Valentine from many actresses who have borne the title "America's Sweetheart" is that she was not of Northern European descent.

Karen Valentine was born on May 25, 1947, in  Sebastopol, California. Her father was Portuguese in descent. It was her paternal grandfather who Anglicised the Portuguese surname "Valentin" to the English surname "Valentine." Her paternal grandmother's name was "Avellar." Her mother was of Italian descent, her maiden name being "Casassa." Miss Valentine grew up on a chicken farm in Sonoma County, California.

At age 16, Karen Valentine competed in the Miss Teenage America pageant. While she did not win the pageant, she did win the talent portion of the pageant for her comedic lip-sync routine to "Blame it on the Bossa Nova" by  Eydie Gormé. A talent scout was backstage and told her that she was going to get a very big surprise. It was then as the ceremony was taking place that host Bud Collyer (best known as the voice of Superman on radio and the original host of Beat the Clock and To Tell the Truth) announced that Ed Sullivan had been watching the show and wanted it announced that Karen Valentine would be on his show in two weeks." Karen Valentine then made her television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show on November 10, 1963, performing her "Blame It On the Bossa Nova" routine. She would appear on The Ed Sullivan Show one more time, this time performing "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" from Annie Get Your Gun. Her second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was a bigger production than her first, complete with dancers and a full orchestra.

Following her appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Karen Valentine was the resident Dream Girl on the short-lived daytime beauty pageant television series Dream Girl of '67. She also appeared on The Dating Game, which didn't prove to be a particularly good experience. She later referred to the whole ordeal as "sleazy." 

She would have a much better experience on the television movie Gidget Grows Up in 1969, on which she became the fifth actress to play Frances Elizabeth "Gidget" Lawrence. Her father was played by Bob Cummings and the rest of the cast was filled by such big names as Edward Mulhare, Nina Foch, and Paul Lynde. The movie was loosely based on the novel Gidget Goes to New York by Frederick Kohner. In Gidget Grows Up, Gidget leaves college after two years and becomes a guide at the United Nations in New York City. The show was meant to be a pilot for a new Gidget series. Given it was produced by Harry Ackerman, it may have also been meant as a sequel to the 1965 sitcom, Gidget, although in my humble opinion Karen Valentine looks nothing like Sally Field beyond both being petite and brunette.

While Gidget Grows Up did not result in a new series, Karen Valentine would find herself cast as a regular on a TV series in 1969, Room 222. Initially it must have seemed unlikely to Miss Valentine that she would get a part on the show. She met with a casting director who simply noted her height, the colour of her hair and the colour of her eyes, and nothing more. She did not hear anything for several months when she was called back to audition with producer Gene Reynolds for the role of student teacher Alice Johnson. Miss Valentine thought the audition went wrong from the beginning. She had her sunglasses on top of her head, so that when she went to set her purse down, her sunglasses fell on the floor. When she went to pick her sunglasses up, the pages of her script went flying everywhere. The entire situation actually impressed Gene Reynolds, who saw in her attempt to handle it a good deal of comedic timing, as well as the fact that Karen Valentine's bumbling matched that of Alice Johnson.

Room 222 debuted on September 17, 1969 on ABC. While its ratings were middling at best, the show received critical acclaim and developed a loyal following. As to Karen Valentine, she won an Emmy Award for her role as Alice Johnson on Room 222 for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Comedy in 1970 and was nominated again for an Emmy in 1971. 

It was while Karen Valentine was on Room 222 that she made guest appearances on The Bold One: The New Doctors; Laugh In; Love, American Style; and Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law. ABC was eager to capitalize on Karen Valentine's popularity, and as a result a pilot for the prospective series The Karen Valentine Show was shot. The pilot featured Miss Valentine as the assistant to Buddy Loudon (Charles Nelson Reilly) of the Buddy Loudon Public Relations Firm. While ABC did not pick up the pilot, Karen Valentine did receive her own show in the form of the short-lived sitcom Karen. On Karen, she played Karen Angelo, an employee of the liberal citizen's lobby Open America in Washington, DC. The show debuted on January 30, 1975 and lasted only 13 episodes. 

Karen Valentine would never again be a regular on a TV show, but she was hardly absent from the small screen. Through the years she did several TV movies, some of which are remembered to this day. She starred in the comedy Western The Daughters of Joshua Cable, playing the pickpocket Charity, who along with a prostitute and a thief are hired by a fur trapper (the Joshua Cable of the title, played by Buddy Ebsen) to pose as his daughters in order to keep his land. She played a stewardess in the TV movie Coffee, Tea, or Me?, based on the book of the same name. Among her best known TV movies is The Girl Who Came Gif-Wrapped. Karen Valentine played the girl of the title, a small-town beauty queen who is sent to the publisher of a men's magazine as a gift as a joke. Despite the title, it was a rather sweet-natured romantic comedy rather than anything salacious. In Muggable Mary, Street Cop, she played the police officer of the title. Notably, she appeared in the original movie pilot for The Love Boat.

Of course, Karen Valentine would also continue to make several guest appearances over the years. On the Starsky & Hutch episode "Fatal Charm," she played an obsessive stalker. After having appeared in the pilot, she later guest-starred on two episodes of The Love Boat. She played a nun on an episode of Mike Hammer. In the Murder, She Wrote episode "Murder Through the Looking Glass," she played a Department of Special Security (a fictional spy agency) operative. She also guest starred on such shows as The Twilight Zone (1985), Monsters, The Untouchables (1993), Cybill, and Family Law.

Amazingly enough given her popularity on the small screen, Karen Valentine only appeared in three feature films. She was the female lead in the 1975 film Forever Young, Forever Free, She may be better remembered for two Walt Disney comedies in which she appeared. She played the female lead, school marm Jenny, in the Western comedy Hot Lead and Cold Feet. She also appeared in The North Avenue Irregulars, playing one of the ladies of a church who decide to combat the mob. 

While Karen Valentine was Portuguese in descent, for most of her career she played characters who were Northern European in descent (Gidget and Alice Johnson on Room 222 being prime examples) or Italian in descent (Karen Angelo on Karen and several guest appearances). Sadly, this is not unusual, as it is rare to see characters of Lusitanic on television shows or movies unless they are from Portugal or Brazil. Character actor Nestor Pavia, whose parents were from Portugal, spent his career mostly playing Hispanic characters, with only a few roles in which he played characters of Portuguese descent.

Regardless, Karen Valentine still maintains a legion of fans who never quite got over their boyhood crushes on her. For many she will always be remembered as Alice Johnson on Room 222, the perky, clumsy, and absolutely adorable student teacher. Throughout her career, she also played many other roles, from a deranged stalker on Starsky & Hutch to a street cop in the TV movie Muggalbe Mary, Street Cop to a government agent on Murder, She Wrote. While she will always be remembered as Alice, she played a wide array of other roles as well. 

The Ann Miller Collection at Julien's Auctions

Long time readers know that I am a huge fan of dancer, actress, and pinup girl Ann Miller. With that in mind, I have good news for my fellow Ann Miller fans. More than 200 items from the personal estate of Ann Miller are going up for auction on Friday, June 26, 2026. The auction is being conducted by Julien's Auctions in conjunction with Turner Classic Movies. 

The Ann Miller Collection includes a wide array og items from her career in movies, on television, and on Broadway. There are several photographs, some of which were signed by Miss Miller herself. There are scripts, including a script for Mulholland Drive (2001) signed by director David Lynch, scripts from Miss Miller's appearances on The Dinah Shore Chevy Hour and The Jonathan Winters Hour, and a 1969 annotated script from the Broadway musical Mame. As might be expected, there are items related to Ann Miller's work as a dancer, including the red tap shoes she used in the famous 1970 Great American Soup commercial (directed by Stan Freberg) and taps from the tap shoes she used in the 1940s. There are also several handbags, gowns, documents, and even personal correspondence.

If you're an Ann Miller fan interested in buying one of the many priceless items from the Ann Miller Collection or if you just want to browse, just click on the following link: "The Ann Miller Collection."

William Williams in Repeat Performance (1947)

Joan Leslie and Richard Basehart

Repeat Performance (1947) is unusual among film noirs. First, it blends elements of fantasy (namely time travel) with film noir. Second, among its characters is William Williams (played by Richard Basehart in his movie debut), a coded homosexual who is distinct in that he is portrayed somewhat sympathetically at a time when many coded homosexuals were portrayed as villains. 

Repeat Performance (1947) opens with actress Sheila Page (Joan Leslie), standing over the body of her dead husband, Barney (Louis Hayward). She flees to a party where she asks her friend William Williams for help. William suggests that they visit theatrical producer John Friday (Tom Conway) to seek his advice. As Sheila and William are going up to John's apartment, she suddenly finds herself thrown back in time to exactly a year ago, from New Year's Eve 1946 to New Year's Eve 1945. She then finds herself living 1946 again and seeking to change things for the better.

Repeat Performance (1947) was based on the 1942 novel of the same name by William O'Farrell. The novel differs a great deal from the book. In the book it is actor Barney Page who strangles to death his costar Fern Costello and is then forced to live the past year over. In the movie, Barney is a playwright and  he is killed by his wife Sheila Page. As to Sheila, in the book she is an alcoholic who committed suicide. William Williams is also dramatically different in the book. He is a mildly insane cross-dressing poet who goes by the name "William and Mary." For the movie, he remains a poet who apparently has some mental disorder, but he was changed from a crossdresser to a coded homosexual. For those unfamiliar, with queer coding, it is assigning traits stereotypically assumed to be queer to a character without coming out and saying that they character was queer. 

In Repeat Performance (1947), Williams Williams is Sheila's friend and close confidant. When she realizes she has killed Barney, it is to William she goes for help. Along with theatrical producer and friend John Friday, he is one of two people to whom Sheila confides that she believes she has jumped backwards in time. Overall, William is portrayed very sympathetically. He has a good deal of with and seems bemused by most situations. William is sensitive to the needs of others, so it is little wonder that Sheila confides in him. He is fiercely loyal to his friends, and stands by Shelia throughout the movie.  William is also a bit eccentric, and even claims to be "quite mad." In truth, as a poet who lives for his art, it might be more accurate to say that the is just little out of touch with the harsh realities of life. To wit, William has no difficulty accepting that Sheila travelled back in time or that Destiny may just guide people's lives. Despite his empathy for others, William may also be a bad judge of character in some cases.  He makes the mistake of accepting the patronage of Mrs. Eloise Shaw (Natalie Schafer), a rich woman who supports young male artists, presumably in expectation that she will get something in return. 

While William is largely portrayed sympathetically, to some degree William Williams conforms to a trope quite common from the Thirties well into the Seventies, where by homosexuality was related to mental illness. He tells Sheila very early in the film that he is "quite mad." Of course, here it must be kept in mind that homosexuality itself was considered a mental disorder in 1940s. It would even be included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a sociopathic personality disturbance when it was first published in 1952.  By the standards of the 1940s, William would have been considered mad simply because he was gay.

As it is, despite Willliam's claim to be "quite mad," he often seems to be the most reasonable person in Repeat Performance. While he is eventually committed to an insane asylum in the film, the circumstances under which this is done seem suspect to me. First, we are told that "it was Mrs. Shaw's fault" that William was committed. Earlier in the film, when Mrs. Shaw offers a concert tour to a pianist, she comments how some young talents she had "inspired" have been "ungrateful" while looking directly at William. It seems possible that Mrs. Shaw got William committed merely out of spite and that, despite William's claims, he really isn't crazy at all. Quite simply, as a homosexual (and possibly a poet as well), he was a victim of the times. 

While William may or may not be mad, in the end he is portrayed much more sympathetically than other coded homosexuals in movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood, to the point that it can be argued that he was one of the heroes of Repeat Performance (1947). His portrayal is certainly much more positive than that of other coded homosexuals in films from the era, from Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon (1941) to Waldo Lydecker in Laura (1944) to Brandon Shaw and Philip Morgan in Rope (1948). Even given the movies plays with the trope of homosexuals and mental illness, the portrayal of William Williams in the film was a small step forward for the portrayal of gay men in American films.

Sixty Years Ago Today "Paint It, Black" by The Rolling Stones Hit No. 1 in the US

It was sixty years ago on this date that "Paint It, Black" by The Rolling Stones hit no. 1 on the BillboardHot 100. It is certainly one of the all-time most popular Rolling Stones songs and it has been my favourite Rolling Stones song since childhood. I already did a somewhat in-depth post on the song years ago, so I won't repeat myself, but I would like to discuss something that wasn't really relevant at the time I made the original post.

Ever since I was a kid, I knew that "Paint It, Black" was about death. To be more precise, it is about someone whose love has died. While I loved the song, for most of my life I really couldn't identify with it. All of that changed on August 30, 2018. Immediately following Vanessa's death, I listened to "Paint It, Black" by The Rolling Stones, as well as "I Don't Believe in Love" by Queensrÿche, "Gone Away" by The Offspring, and "Don't Go" by Matthew Sweet, on repeat. Quite simply, given the song is about loss and grief, I could identify with it in a way I had never been able to before in my life. Beyond the fact that it is an immensely listenable song, I have to think the fact that it is about loss and grief is the reason it has remained so popular. Quite simply, anyone who has gone through extreme grief can identify with the song.

Here's the official lyric video for "Paint It, Black" by The Rolling Stones. I have to point out that they have one error with regards to the lyrics. The line is not "Don't wanna see the sun/Flyin' high in the sky," but rather "I wanna see the sun/Blotted out from the sky," which IMHO has a much darker connotation.

Godspeed James Handy

James Handy, who appeared in such films as Arachnophobia (1990) and The Rocketeer (1991), was murdered by the son of his girlfriend on June 3 at the age of 81.

James Handy was born in New York City on March 19, 1945. He began his acting career in the late 1970s. He made his television debut in two guest appearances on the soap opera Ryan's Hope. He made his movie debut in Taps in 1981. In the Eighties, he guest starred on such shows as Search for Tomorrow; CBS Schoolbreak Special; ABC Afternoon Specials; Spenser: For Hire; Our Family Honor; Cagney & Lacey; Popeye Doyle; Matlock; Stingray; Wiseguy; Hard Time on Planet Earth; Mancuso, FBI; Midnight Caller; and Equal Justice. He appeared in the mini-series Doubletake and A Dangerous Life.He appeared in the movies The Verdict (1982), Brighton Beach Murders (1986), Burglar (1987), Jake's M.O. (1987), Bird (1988), K-9 (1989), and Arachnophobia (1990).

In the Nineties, he appeared on the TV shows Equal Justice; Reasonable Doubts; The Young Riders; Quantum Leap; The Commish; The Fifth Corner; Angel Street; Wings; Civil Wars; Murder, She Wrote; The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles; Silk Stalkings; L.A. Law; Picket Fences; NYPD Blue; Under One Roof; Beverly Hills, 90120; Melrose Place; The X-Files; Walker, Texas Ranger; The Pretender; Promised Land; EZ Street; Law & Order; Early Edition; Dellaventura; Prey; Profiler; To Have and To Hold; ER; L.A. Doctors; Third Watch; and Gideon's Crossing. He appeared in the movies The Rocketeer (1991), Point of No Return (1993), Guarding Tess (1994), Rave Review (1994), Jumanji (1995), Murder in Mind (1997), Gang Related (1997), Every Dog Has His Day (1998), Deterrence (1999), and Unbreakable (2000).

In the Naughts, James Handy guest starred on the shows U.C.: Undercover; The West Wing; Becker; The Practice; Breaking News; Without a Trace; MDs; The Dead Zone; Crossing Jordan; E-Ring; Cold Case; Commander-in-Chief; Alias; The Closer; Smith; Raising the Bar; The Lynch Pin; Criminal Minds; Castle; and The Young and the Restless. He appeared in the movies 15 Minutes (2001), The Donor (2001), The Trip (2002), Ash Wednesday (2002), Rounds (2008), The Waiter (2010), and Lifted (2010).

In the Teens, James Handy appeared on the shows Touch; Vegas; CSI: NY; Rizzoli & Isles; Mulaney; Documentary Now!; and NCIS: Los Angeles. He appeared in the movies Logan (2017), Thru: The Hereafter Remains Unknown (2017), and Suburbicon (2017). In the 2020s, he appeared in the movies Senior Entourage (2021), Street to Table (2022), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022). 

James Handy played a wide variety of roles, some of which were only on screen for mere moments. He played everything from priests to law enforcement officers to politicians. He was an FBI agent in The Rocketeer, the sarcastic county coroner Milt Briggs in Arachnophobia, and CIA director Arthur Devlin on the TV show Alias. Even when he was on screen briefly, James Handy made an impression. He was a fine actor who leaves behind a career filled with solid performances. 

Scroll Break: Instagram's Annoying New Feature

The past few years I have found myself complaining more and more about Instagram. Last night I observed something that gives me even more to complain about the platform. After only scrolling through four to five posts last night, the feed paused and there was this message reading, "Time for a break?  Pause for a moment and considering taking a break. Load more posts." If you click on "load more posts," it does exactly that.

Now I have to say if this message appeared after one had spent a straight half hour on the app, I wouldn't have too much of a problem with it. There are probably people who spend a half hour or more straight on the app and may well feel fatigued after doing so. The problem is that the message is appearing after only scrolling through a few posts and less than five minutes. For people like me who don't spend a whole lot of time scrolling through their feed, it can be annoying. 

To make matters worse, at the same time that I noticed the "Scroll break" message, I also noticed that my feed was slowing down after scrolling for a while and once or twice even froze. I have to think this is related to the "Scroll break" message, which makes things even more frustrating. Indeed, it can test my patience when dealing with Instagram.

I honestly hope this is only a test being rolled out to a few users and not a feature that Instagram has decided to make permanent. If it is test, I hope Instagram realizes it is a bad idea and does away with it. If it is a permanent feature, I hope they give users a way to turn it off. I also hope they fix the feed so it isn't lagging and even freezing up. 

As it is, this is just one more thing that makes me want to spend much less time on Instagram. The only reason I am still there is that I do manage accounts not my own and I have a lot of friends there. As it is, it seems to me that Meta almost has a death wish when it comes to Instagram, given the various things they have done to ruin the experience for many of us: an overemphasis on Reels; no longer saving posts to one's phone's gallery; removing the option to filter searches by "most recent;" altering the algorithm so that one's posts get far, far fewer views than in the past; changing the grid profile previews from squares to oblong rectangles that aggressively crop one's photos; and limiting hashtags on posts to a mere five. Honestly, if I didn't have friends on Instagram and didn't manage other accounts, I would just give up on it entirely.

Instagram used to be one of my favourite social media services. I posted up to two or three photos to it a day and posted to it every day. Now a whole week can go without me making one post. And far too often these days I have to scroll and scroll and scroll just to see posts from my friends, which makes the "Scroll Break" feature even more frustrating. Honestly, Instagram should just ditch every single change they have made to the app since around 2017 and just revert the app back to the way it used to be. Honestly, I would probably start using it more often.

The Late Great Anthony Head

Anthony Head, best known for playing Rupert "Ripper" Giles on the classic TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, died on June 1, 2026 at the age of 72. The cause was complications from pneumonia. He also starred in the shows Little Britain, Merlin, and Ted Lasso. With Sharon Maugham, he appeared in a series of commercials for Nescafé Gold Blend coffee from 1987 to 1993.

Anthony Head was born on February 20, 1954, in London. His father was documentary filmmaker Stewart Head and his mother was actress Helen Shingler. His older brother is actor and singer Murray Head. Antony Head attended the London Academy of Dramatic Art and Music. Among his earliest roles was in a production of Godspell. He made his television debut in a guest appearance on the TV series Enemy at the Door. He made his movie debut in Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1981. In the late Seventies, he guest starred on the shows Lillie, Accident, Jackanory Playhouse, The Mallens, Secret Army, and Love in a Cold Climate.

In the Eighties, he gained a good deal of visibility in a series of commercials for Nescafé Gold Blend coffee in the UK and Taster's Choice coffee in the United States. He and Sarah Maugham played a man and a woman who developed a romance over coffee. He guest stared on the shows Crown Court, Bergerac, BBC2 Playhouse, Celebrity Playhouse, C.A.T.S. Eye, Howard's Way, Boon, Pulaski, Rockliffe's Babies, The Comic Strip Presents, Les Girls, and Hard Cases. He appeared in the movies Lady Chatterley's Love (1981), A Prayer for the Dying (1987), and The Zero Option (1988).

In the Nineties, Anthony Head had a recurring role on the short-lived American series VR.5. It was in 1997, that he began his run as Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character proved popular with fans and following the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, creator Joss Whedon wanted to do a spinoff series, Ripper, with the BBC, although rights issues prevented him from doing so. During the decade; Anthony Head also guest starred on the shows Woof!; The Detectives; Highlander; NYPD Blue; Ghostbusters of East Finchley; Jonathan Creek; and Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place.

In the Naughts, Anthony Head continued to appear as Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He provided a voice for the animated mini-series Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time, Doctor Who: Excelis Decays, Doctor Who; The Infinite Quest,.. He played the Prime Minster on the show Little Britain and Uther Pendragon on Merlin. He was a regular on the shows Manchild and Free Agents and appeared in the mini-series The Invisibles. He guest starred on the shows Spooks, Filmore!, New Tricks, The Story of Tracy Beaker, Monarch of the Glen (on which he appeared in four episodes for himself), M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team, My Family, Rose and Maloney, Hotel Babylon, Doctor Who, Sensitive Skin, Sold, and Freezing, He appeared in the movies I'll Be There (2003), Fat Slags (2004), Framing Frankie (2004), Imagine Me & You (2005), Scoop (2006), Sparkle (2007), Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), and Repo!: The Genetic Opera (2008).

In the Teens, Anthony Head continued to appear on Merlin. He reprised his role from the original British series on the short-lived American remake of Free Agents. He starred on the show You, Me & Them. He had a recurring role on the shows Dominion, Still Star-Crossed and Girlfriends. He appeared on the mini-series Dancing on the Edge, Vanity Fair, and The Stranger. He guest starred on the shows NTSF:SD:SUV::; Warehouse 13; Galavant; Guilt; Yonderland; Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments; The Split; Jack Ryan; and Robot Chicken. He began appearing on Ted Lasso in 2020. He appeared in the movies The Inbetweeners Movie (2011); The Great Ghost Rescue (2011); Ghost Rider:Spirit of Vengeance (2011); The Iron Lady (2011); Metegol (2013), Percy Jackson, Sea of Monsters (2013), Convenience (2013), The Unbeatables (2013), Death of a Farmer (2014), Flying Home (2014), Despite the Falling Show (2016), The Brother (2016), A Street Cat Named Bob (2016), Feedback (2019), Pinky (2020), and Sideshow (2020).

In the 2020s, Anthony Head continued to play Rupert Mannion on the show Ted Lasso. He starred in the mini-series The Canterville Ghost and a voice on the animated mini-series Adventure Time: Distant Lands. He guest starred on the shows Back, Feel Good, Bridgerton. and Motherland. He appeared in the movies Schools Out Forever (2021), Let the Wrong One In (2021), and Upgraded (2024).

Chances are good that Anthony Head will always be remembered as the prim, proper, serious, but very protective Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. James Marsters (who played Spike on the show) referred to Anthony Head as the best actor on the show in his tribute to Anthony Head. Of course, Anthony Head played other roles beyond Giles. On Merlin, Anthony Head played a character as far from Giles as one can get, the tyrannical and autocratic Uther Pendragon.  On Free Agents, he played the puckish and sex obsessed Stephen, In the movie The Iron Lady, he played Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Howe. He received critical acclaim for his role on Ted Lasso. Anthony Head was an excellent actor capable of playing a wide variety of roles.