Prunella Scales, the celebrated British actress who famously embodied Sybil Fawlty, the perfectly composed counterpoint to her excitable husband Basil in the classic sitcom ‘Fawlty Towers,’ passed away peacefully at her London residence on Monday, at the age of 93.
Her passing was announced by her sons, Samuel and Joseph, via social media. While a specific cause of death was not disclosed, Ms. Scales had been living with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis since 2014.
Her sons shared a poignant detail, revealing, ‘She was watching ‘Fawlty Towers’ the day before she died.’
With a career spanning nearly seventy years, Ms. Scales graced countless theatrical productions and television shows, earning widespread acclaim for her exceptional talent in comedic roles. She first captivated television audiences in the BBC sitcom ‘The Marriage Lines’ (1961-66), portraying a bewildered newlywed struggling with domestic life alongside her husband, played by Richard Briers.
However, it was her unforgettable performance as Sybil in ‘Fawlty Towers,’ which originally aired on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979 before gaining global recognition on PBS, that truly cemented her legacy. In this iconic series, she redefined the role of the exasperated spouse.
Opposite John Cleese’s portrayal of the notoriously high-strung hotelier Basil Fawlty, Ms. Scales depicted his perfectly coiffed and elegantly attired wife. She remained a beacon of eye-rolling composure, even as chaotic hilarity erupted at their seaside establishment.
Sybil was often spotted in a back room, telephone cradled to her ear, exchanging gossip with friends, her conversations frequently punctuated by a drawn-out ‘Oh, I know!’ When faced with Basil’s escalating antics, she masterfully deflated him with a single withering glance or a piercing, clipped ‘BASIL!’— an impressive feat for the diminutive 5-foot-3 actress opposite the towering 6-foot-5 John Cleese.
Basil’s endearments for Sybil were legendary, ranging from ‘my little piranha fish’ to ‘my little nest of vipers,’ and he famously compared her laugh to ‘someone machine-gunning a seal.’ Yet, Sybil consistently delivered her own sharp retorts, as when she scathingly asked, ‘Do you really imagine, even in your wildest dreams, that a girl like this could possibly be interested in an aging, brilliantined stick insect like you?’ after finding him in an attractive guest’s closet.
Despite running for only two seasons, and later facing scrutiny for the inclusion of racial slurs in a particular episode, ‘Fawlty Towers’ retained its immense popularity. The British Film Institute recognized it as the No. 1 British television show in 2000, and Radio Times lauded it as the greatest British sitcom ever.
Off-screen, Ms. Scales shared a fulfilling life with her husband, renowned theater actor Timothy West, a familiar face on British television. In 2014, the same year she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the couple pursued their shared love of narrowboating, starring in ‘Great Canal Journeys.’ This series saw them gracefully navigating the picturesque waterways of Britain, Europe, and even more distant locales.
The program resonated deeply with audiences, particularly as Mr. West thoughtfully began each episode by acknowledging his wife’s Alzheimer’s. The Guardian aptly described the poignant series as charting ‘the long, slow goodbye that is living with dementia.’
Ms. Scales’s health challenges eventually led to their departure from the show in October 2019, marking, in the words of The Guardian, ‘the end to one of the greatest love stories on TV.’
Reflecting on her career in 2013, Ms. Scales once remarked, ‘I am famous for playing unfortunate wives, but I have been a very lucky wife.’
Born Prunella Margaret Rumney Scales Illingworth on June 22, 1932, in Sutton Abinger, Surrey, southwest of London, her mother, Catherine (née Scales) Illingworth, was also a professional actress before marrying cotton salesman John Richardson Illingworth.
At the age of ten, in 1942, Prunella attended Moira House, a boarding school where she honed her talents in piano, speech, and drama.
At seventeen, she secured a two-year scholarship to London’s prestigious Old Vic. There, she initially felt overwhelmed, attributing this to her sheltered upbringing. In her 2005 biography ‘Prunella’ by Teresa Ransom, she candidly stated, ‘Although I wanted to be an actress, I was very inhibited and thought it was wrong to show off.’
Her first significant London stage appearance was in 1955, taking on the role of Ermengarde in the debut production of Thornton Wilder’s ‘The Matchmaker’ at the Haymarket Theater. The play achieved considerable success, enjoying a nine-month run in the West End before moving to Broadway. During her time in New York, Ms. Scales further refined her craft, studying under the esteemed Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof Studio.
Upon her return to England, she became part of the Shakespeare Memorial Theater (which later evolved into the Royal Shakespeare Company), where she performed in productions such as ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ ‘Measure for Measure,’ and Peter Hall’s inaugural staging of ‘Love Labour’s Lost.’
She first encountered Timothy West while working on the BBC historical production ‘She Died Young’ in 1961, and they married two years later in 1963.
Ms. Scales leaves behind her sons, Samuel and Joseph, along with a stepdaughter, Juliet, from Mr. West’s previous marriage. She is also survived by seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Her brother, Timothy Illingworth, passed away in 2017, and her husband, Timothy West, died just last year.
Following her indelible role in ‘Fawlty Towers,’ Ms. Scales maintained a prominent presence on British television. From 1985 to 1986, she charmed audiences as Miss Elizabeth Mapp in ‘Mapp and Lucia,’ a series adapted from E.F. Benson’s novels, chronicling the lives of gossipy, middle-aged women in a quaint 1930s English town.
The series also gained a devoted following in the United States, with a New York Times review praising it as ‘positively delicious,’ noting how ‘Mapp, plumpish, round and insinuating, is brought to blazing hypocritical perfection by Prunella Scales.’
In 1980, Ms. Scales took to the stage of the Old Vic in ‘An Evening With Queen Victoria,’ a captivating one-woman show derived from the queen’s own diaries and letters. She delivered this performance an astonishing 400 times, gracing theaters, churches, and municipal halls throughout Britain, and even touring to Bermuda, Brunei, the United States, and Australia.
Her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett’s 1988 play ‘A Question of Attribution’ at London’s National Theater, later adapted into a 1991 BBC film, earned her widespread critical praise. Frank Rich of The Times remarked that ‘Without ever indulging in caricature, the extraordinary Miss Scales makes a completely persuasive queen: shrewd without being intellectual, convivial without being intimate, charming without being warm.’
Throughout the 1990s, her filmography expanded to include notable roles in ‘Howards End’ (1992) alongside Anthony Hopkins and Vanessa Redgrave; ‘Second Best’ (1994) with William Hurt; and ‘Wolf’ (1994), where she appeared with Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Recognized for her contributions to the arts, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1992. Beyond her acting, she shared her expertise by teaching at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, the Actors Center, and through private workshops, continuing to work consistently across television, stage, and radio until her official retirement in 2020.
Despite her extensive and varied career, interviewers often gravitated solely to discussions of ‘Fawlty Towers.’ Ms. Scales, however, expressed enduring gratitude for the character of Sybil.
While many recalled Sybil as a ‘hideous gorgon of a woman,’ Ms. Scales confided to her biographer, ‘I consider her a heroine.’
Reporting for this article was contributed by Claire Moses.