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

The celebrated actress Prunella Scales, who passed away at 93 years old, was regarded as among Britain's most brilliant comedic performers.

Despite an extensive and respected career on stage and screen, she will inevitably be remembered as the unforgettable Sybil Fawlty in the 1970s TV comedy, Fawlty Towers.

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

She was tasked to placate guests who had been shouted at, completely overlooked or, in some cases, throttled by Basil when during his particularly frenzied episodes.

Her unforgettable cackle, extraordinary hairstyle and intense anger were components of a meticulously crafted persona that stands as a comic masterpiece.

And while numerous performers would have removed themselves from too close an association 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 profoundly passionate about the theatre - her mother being, Catherine Scales, a former actor who'd given it all up for family life.

Intelligent and studious, following evacuation during the war to the Lake District, Prunella studied at Moira House educational institution in the coastal town of Eastbourne.

During 1949, she won a scholarship to the Old Vic Theatre School and - after two years - obtained a role as an assistant stage manager.

This decision angered of her previous school principal in Eastbourne, who had hoped she would apply to Cambridge University and sent correspondence to the theater to tell them so.

During her theatrical training, Scales had been thought of as a junior character actor instead of a natural Juliet candidate.

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

The youthful Prunella also hid her privileged background, conscious that directors were beginning to look for authentic working-class realism in performers.

But she started picking up small roles in plays, and, while rehearsing for a role at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, she met Andrew Sachs, who would later star as Manuel, the Spanish waiter, in Fawlty Towers.

There was an early television appearance in 1952, as the character Lydia Bennet in a television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which included Peter Cushing - more famous for his horror film performances - as Mr. Darcy.

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

During the latter 1950s and early 1960s, she was rarely out of work - performing across multiple mediums, including a short appearance as transport worker, character Eileen Hughes, in the popular soap Coronation Street.

She also met colleague Timothy West.

Following what she characterized as "a mild Times crossword and Polo mints flirtation", they became a couple, and married in 1963.

Breakthrough and Iconic Roles

Her big TV break came with the series Marriage Lines, a comedy program about recentlyweds, the Starling couple.

Scales performed alongside Richard Briers, at that time a major celebrity in television comedy. The show proved hugely popular and ran for five years.

Then came the legendary Fawlty Towers, which elevated her to cultural icon.

John Cleese and his spouse at the time, Connie Booth, had presented the initial screenplay of their comedy creation to the broadcasting corporation.

Actress Bridget Turner had been approached to play the Sybil role but she had turned it down and Scales tried out for the character.

She later remembered 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 ever made.

The first series, which aired in 1975, didn't immediately attract massive viewership but, as it continued, its comedic combination of ridiculous physical comedy and awkward circumstances increased in appeal.

Scales thought hard about portraying Sybil Fawlty, and decided that her social background had to be below Basil's social standing.

Initially, the creators had doubts regarding this approach.

"After witnessing the initial read-through," recalled Scales, "they embraced the concept completely."

Later in her career, she frequently found herself, requested to portray "dragons" and "old bags" when she desired more glamorous roles.

However when questioned about what she thought was the high point, Scales had no hesitation in selecting Sybil Fawlty.

"It was a tough job," she maintained, "but I'm still proud of it." She believed it helped get audience members into theaters.

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

Later Career and Personal Life

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

Her voice was also regularly heard on audio broadcasts, notably the BBC Radio 4 sitcom, which subsequently transferred to television, and Ladies of Letters, with actress Patricia Routledge, which became an intrinsic part of the program Woman's Hour.

Scales performed two significant royal characters; as Queen Elizabeth II in the television drama of Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution, and as Queen Victoria in a solo performance that she performed 400 times.

She obtained correspondence from a royal protection officer who confessed that when Scales appeared, he rose to his feet.

"The response was automatic," she clarified. "The experience delighted me."

In 1995, she started appearing as character Dotty Turnbull in a series of TV adverts for the retail chain Tesco - which paid her partly in vouchers.

The campaign, which ran for nine years, was cited as the biggest factor in establishing its dominant market position in the mid 1990s.

Scales later came in for moderate critique for taking part in the commercial campaign, when she supported an initiative to stop local shops closing in her area of London.

Among her most accomplished roles appeared in Breaking the Code, the film about World War II cryptanalysts.

She portrays Alan Turing's mother, who embodies a society that criminalized same-sex relationships, a perspective that contributed to his tragic end.

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