‘Buffy’ stars react to Nicholas Brendon’s death at 54
Clockwise from top left: Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy and Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.” (Getty Images, FILE)
Former Buffy the Vampire Slayer stars are mourning the loss of actor Nicholas Brendon, who died at 54.
Brendon, who portrayed Xander Harris on the long-running supernatural drama, was a central figure in the series’ original cast and remained closely connected to fans of the show in the years that followed.
Alyson Hannigan, who starred alongside Brendon for years on the series, shared a heartfelt note on Instagram on Friday, reflecting on their friendship.
“My Sweet Nicky, thank you for years of laughter, love and Dodgers,” she wrote. “I will think of you every time I see a rocking chair. I love you. RIP.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy, also honored Brendon with a deeply personal post, referencing a poignant line tied to the show’s themes of identity and belonging.
“They’ll never know how tough it is to be the one who isn’t chosen. To live so near to the spotlight, and never step in it,” Gellar wrote. “But I know. I see more than anybody realizes, because nobody’s watching me.”
She added, “I saw you Nicky. I know you are at peace, in that big rocking chair in the sky.”
Other Buffy stars to pay tribute to Brendon include David Boreanaz, who played Angel on the show before moving to his own spinoff; Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia, a love interest of Brendon’s character; and Emma Caulfield, who played former demon Anya, who also became a love interest for Brendon’s character.
The news of Brendon’s death was confirmed in a statement shared on his official Facebook page, revealing he passed away in his sleep from natural causes. The message described him as “passionate, sensitive, and endlessly driven to create,” noting that in recent years he had turned his focus to painting and art, which he often shared with loved ones and fans.
His death marks another loss for the Buffy community. In 2025, Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy’s younger sister, Dawn Summers, also passed away.
Stephen Graham wins best performance by a male actor in a limited series, anthology series, or a motion picture made for television at the 83rd annual Golden Globes. (Phil McCarten/CBS)
Adolescence star and co-creator Stephen Graham won a trophy at this year’s Golden Globes — but he also lost that same trophy not too long after the ceremony.
In a recent interview with the U.K. radio show Capital Breakfast, Graham told the story of how he lost his Golden Globe in the chaos that followed his Jan. 11 win for best actor in a limited series, anthology series or a motion picture made for television.
“I had to go straight from LA the day after to Madrid because I had to be on set the next day. It was weird, I had like three minutes to catch the plane,” Graham said. “It’s a next-level kind of thing. As I come off, a woman stood there with my name and she took me down the stairs, threw me in a car and drove me across the airport on the runway.”
The actor remembered being concerned that his suitcase — which had his Golden Globe inside of it — wasn’t going to make the plane.
“I went, ‘Excuse me, love? There’s no way you’re getting my suitcase on this plane if I’m in a car now,’ and she’s like, ‘Oh no, don’t worry, we’ll take care of it,’” Graham said. “And I was like, ‘No, no, no, no, you don’t understand,’ and she went, ‘I promise you, I promise you.’ Anyway, it didn’t land.”
Graham said his suitcase that contained Golden Globe was left in Atlanta. He put his trophy inside the suitcase because he found it too heavy.
“I wasn’t carrying that on me,” Graham said.
Luckily, the trophy wasn’t lost for long. Graham said he has since been reunited with his Golden Globe.
”But thankfully, thankfully, it turns up the day after. Two days after,” Graham said.
Actor Robert Duvall poses for a portrait during the 87th Academy Awards nominee luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Feb. 2, 2015 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Jeff Vespa/Getty Images)
Robert Duvall, the Academy Award-winning actor known for roles in some of American cinema’s greatest films, including The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has died at age 95.
“Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort,” read a statement posted on the actor’s official Facebook page by his wife, Luciana.
A statement from Duvall’s representative confirmed the actor’s death, reading in part, “Academy Award winning actor Robert Selden Duvall passed away peacefully in his home in Middleburg, Virginia, the evening of Sunday, February 15, 2026, with his wife Luciana Duvall by his side. He was 95.”
Duvall brought a signature naturalism to the roles he played, an unmannered style that infused his myriad characters with a calm intensity – a counterpoint to his self-confessed often hot-tempered on-set disposition – and earned him a reputation as one of his generation’s finest actors. Beginning with his memorable film debut as Boo Radley in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird, in which he didn’t utter a word, Robert Duvall went on to appear in more than 90 films over the next seven decades, working with some of Hollywood’s most celebrated filmmakers and performers.
Duvall shared the screen as the outlaw Ned Pepper opposite John Wayne in 1969’s True Grit, originated the role of Maj. Frank Burns in Robert Altman’s 1970 dark comedy M*A*S*H, and starred in the title role in Star Wars creator George Lucas’ 1971 directorial debut, THX 1138. Duvall also played Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and The Godfather Part II opposite his acting hero, Marlon Brando, and had a pivotal role as the ruthless network VP Frank Hackett in the acclaimed 1976 media satire Network.
As the shirtless, cowboy hat-wearing Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, Duvall delivered the film’s most oft-quoted line: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Four years later, Duvall won the Academy Award for best actor for playing Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music star attempting to make amends, in Tender Mercies.
Other career highlights included playing cynical sportswriter Max Murphy in the 1984 Robert Redford baseball fable The Natural; NASCAR crew chief Harry Hogge opposite Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in the 1990 action hit Days of Thunder; Sgt. Martin Prendergast, the retiring LAPD officer who spends his final day on the job pursuing Michael Douglas’ unhinged character in 1993’s Falling Down; and a criminal court judge accused of murder who’s defended by his estranged son, played by Robert Downey Jr., in the 2014 legal drama The Judge.
Of all his many celebrated acting roles, however, Duvall repeatedly said his favorite was that of retired Texas Ranger Augustus “Gus” McCrae in the 1989 TV Western miniseries Lonesome Dove. The series was one of several TV projects in which Duvall starred. Others included playing the title role in 1992’s HBO film drama Stalin, for which he won a Golden Globe – his fourth lifetime win – and the 2006 AMC Western miniseries Broken Trail, which earned Duvall a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor, in addition to another for producing the series.
In total, Duvall was nominated for seven Academy Awards, the final three for his performances in 1997’s The Apostle, which he also wrote and directed; 1998’s A Civil Action, co-starring with John Travolta as a corrupt corporate attorney; and 2014’s The Judge. His nomination for The Judge, at age 84, then made him the oldest actor ever nominated in the best supporting actor category, until Christopher Plummer, at age 86, was nominated three years later for All the Money in the World.
Other notable later films in which Duvall appeared include The Handmaid’s Tale in 1990, 1996’s Sling Blade, 1998’s sci-fi action thriller Deep Impact, Crazy Heart in 2009 – this time with Jeff Bridges playing a down-on-his luck country singer – and as a shooting range owner in the 2012 Tom Cruise hit Jack Reacher.
In addition to his Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe wins, Robert Duvall won a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild Award, the former for Apocalypse Now and the latter for A Civil Action, as well as dozens of other critical and popular award nominations and wins. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts by then-President George W. Bush in 2005.
Duvall was married four times, most recently in 2005 to Luciana Pedraza, who survives him. He had no children.
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