The Legendary Prunella Scales: From the Iconic Fawlty Towers to Remarkable Canal Adventures

The celebrated actress Prunella Scales, who died at the age of 93, was considered among Britain's most brilliant comedic performers.

Although a long and distinguished career on stage and screen, her legacy will forever be linked as the unforgettable Sybil Fawlty in the 1970s TV comedy, Fawlty Towers.

Sybil's primary objective in life to closely monitor her "stick insect" husband Basil - portrayed by comedian John Cleese - amid telephone chats fueled by cigarettes with her companion Audrey.

It fell to her to calm visitors who had been yelled at, totally ignored or, occasionally, physically confronted by Basil when in one of his more manic moods.

Her unforgettable cackle, extraordinary hairstyle and intense anger were components of a meticulously crafted persona that ranks as a humorous triumph.

Although many actors would have distanced themselves from excessive identification with one particular character, Scales always expressed her pleasure in having been part of the Fawlty Towers experience.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

The actress born Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth was born in the Guildford area on 22 June 1932.

It was a family deeply in love with the theatre - her mother being, Bim Scales, an ex-actress who'd given it all up for marriage and children.

Bright and bookish, after wartime evacuation to England's Lake District, Prunella attended Moira House educational institution in the coastal town of Eastbourne.

During 1949, she won a scholarship to the prestigious Old Vic drama school and - after two years - secured a position as a stage management assistant.

This was to the fury of her former headmistress in Eastbourne, who had wished she would seek admission to Cambridge and sent correspondence to the theater to tell them so.

At drama school, Scales had been thought of as a developing character performer rather than an obvious Juliet.

"Everyone aspired to resemble Audrey Hepburn," she subsequently informed her chronicler, "but I wasn't attractive and nobody fancied me."

Young Prunella concealed her privileged background, aware that producers started seeking a new kind of earthy credibility in performers.

Nevertheless she began acquiring minor parts in theatrical productions, and, during preparations for a part at Worthing's Connaught Theatre, she met actor Andrew Sachs, who would later star as Manuel, the Spanish waiter, in Fawlty Towers.

There was an early television appearance in the year 1952, as the character Lydia Bennet in a television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which featured Peter Cushing - more famous for his roles in horror movies - as Mr Darcy.

Her initial film appearances followed the next year - in romantic comedy, Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's Hobson's Choice, alongside the renowned Charles Laughton.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, she maintained constant employment - appearing on stage, film and television, including a brief stint as transport worker, Eileen Hughes, in Coronation Street.

She additionally encountered fellow actor Timothy West.

Following what she characterized as "a gentle courtship involving crosswords and candies", they got together, and wed in 1963.

Breakthrough and Iconic Roles

Her big TV break arrived through Marriage Lines, a comedy program about a newly married couple, the Starling couple.

Scales performed alongside actor Richard Briers, at that time a major celebrity in TV humor. The program achieved great success and ran for five years.

Then came the legendary Fawlty Towers, which propelled her to iconic status.

John Cleese and his then wife, Connie Booth, had submitted the first script of their comedy creation to the BBC.

Actress Bridget Turner had been considered for Sybil Fawlty but she declined the part and Scales tried out for the character.

She subsequently recalled that Cleese maintained high standards.

"John, quite rightly, was extremely rigorous about learning the script, and if you didn't, he could get quite cross, which was fair enough."

Only 12 episodes were ultimately produced.

The initial season, which debuted in 1975, failed to win huge audiences but, as it continued, its hilarious mix of ridiculous physical comedy and awkward circumstances grew in popularity.

Scales carefully considered about portraying Sybil Fawlty, and decided that her social background had to be below her husband Basil's.

Initially, the creators had doubts regarding this approach.

"Once they heard the first reading in rehearsal," recalled Scales, "they were sold on the idea."

In subsequent years, she frequently found herself, called upon to play stern matriarchs when she hankered after elegant characters.

But when asked about her career pinnacle, Scales had no hesitation in picking Sybil Fawlty.

"It was a tough job," she maintained, "yet I remain proud of my work." She believed it assisted in bringing the paying public into performance venues.

"I like to think that if the public have seen you in one thing they'll come and see you in another," she said.

Subsequent Work and Private World

After Fawlty Towers, Scales maintained her career in television, including a stint as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in ITV's Mapp and Lucia.

Her vocal talents were frequently featured on audio broadcasts, notably the BBC Radio 4 sitcom, which later transitioned to TV, and Ladies of Letters, with Patricia Routledge, which became an intrinsic part of the program Woman's Hour.

Scales appeared in at two major royal roles; as Queen Elizabeth in the BBC production of Alan Bennett's work, and as Queen Victoria in a solo performance that she performed 400 times.

She once received a letter from one of Queen Elizabeth's security men who admitted that when Scales came on stage, he stood up.

"It was a knee-jerk reaction," she explained. "I was thrilled."

During 1995, she began starring as Dotty Turnbull in a series of TV adverts for the retail chain Tesco - which paid her partly in vouchers.

The campaign, which continued for nine years, was identified as the primary reason in establishing its dominant market position in the mid 1990s.

Scales later came in for some gentle criticism for taking part in the commercial campaign, when she backed a campaign to prevent neighborhood store closures in her London community.

Among her most accomplished roles appeared in Breaking the Code, the movie concerning the Bletchley Park wartime codebreakers.

She appears as Alan Turing's mother, who embodies a society that treated homosexual acts as a crime, a perspective that contributed to his tragic end.

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