The Legendary Prunella Scales: From the Iconic Fawlty Towers to Great Canal Journeys

The celebrated actress Prunella Scales, who passed away at 93 years old, was considered among Britain's most brilliant comic actors.

Although an extensive and respected professional journey across theater and film, her legacy will forever be linked as Sybil Fawlty in the 1970s TV comedy, Fawlty Towers.

It was Sybil's mission in life to closely monitor her husband Basil described as a "stick insect" - portrayed by John Cleese - amid cigarette-fuelled phone conversations with her friend, Audrey.

It fell to her to placate guests 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 ferocious temper were components of a meticulously crafted persona that ranks as a humorous triumph.

And while many actors would have removed 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 came into the world near Guildford on 22 June 1932.

She belonged to a household profoundly passionate about theatrical arts - with her mother, Bim Scales, a former actor who'd abandoned her career for marriage and children.

Bright and bookish, following evacuation during the war to the Lake District, Prunella studied at Moira House educational institution in Eastbourne.

In 1949, she earned a scholarship to the prestigious Old Vic drama school and - two years later - secured a position as an assistant stage manager.

This decision angered of her former headmistress in her hometown, who had hoped she would apply to Cambridge and sent correspondence to the theater to express this opinion.

At drama school, Scales was perceived as a junior character actor rather than an obvious Juliet.

"We all wanted to look like Audrey Hepburn," she later told her chronicler, "but I wasn't attractive and nobody fancied me."

The youthful Prunella also hid her privileged background, aware that producers started seeking 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 encountered Andrew Sachs, who would subsequently appear as Manuel, the Spanish waiter, in Fawlty Towers.

Her initial television exposure occurred in 1952, as the character Lydia Bennet in a BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, which featured Peter Cushing - better known for his roles in horror movies - as Mr. Darcy.

And her first big screen roles followed the next year - in lighthearted romance, the film Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's Hobson's Choice, opposite Charles Laughton.

Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, she was rarely out of work - performing across multiple mediums, including a brief stint as transport worker, character Eileen Hughes, in Coronation Street.

She additionally encountered colleague Timothy West.

After what Prunella described as "a mild Times crossword and Polo mints flirtation", they became a couple, and wed in 1963.

Breakthrough and Iconic Roles

Her big TV break came with the series Marriage Lines, a BBC sitcom about a newly married couple, George and Kate Starling.

Scales appeared opposite Richard Briers, then one of the biggest stars in television comedy. The program achieved great success and continued for five seasons.

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

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 approached to play the Sybil role but she had turned it down and Scales auditioned for the role.

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."

Merely twelve installments 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 how to play Sybil Fawlty, and determined that her character's upbringing had to be below her husband Basil's.

At first, the creators were unsure about the treatment.

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

Later in her career, she frequently found herself, called upon to play "dragons" and "old bags" when she hankered after elegant characters.

However when questioned about her career pinnacle, Scales immediately identified in picking Sybil Fawlty.

"The role presented challenges," she insisted, "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 expressed.

Later Career and Personal Life

Following Fawlty Towers, Scales maintained her career in television, comprising a stint as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in the series Mapp and Lucia.

Her voice was also regularly heard on audio broadcasts, particularly the comedy program After Henry, which later transitioned to TV, and the series Ladies of Letters, with actress Patricia Routledge, which evolved into a staple of Woman's Hour.

Scales performed two significant royal characters; as Queen Elizabeth in the television drama of Alan Bennett's work, and as Queen Victoria in a one-woman show that she performed 400 times.

She obtained correspondence from a royal protection officer who confessed that when Scales appeared, he stood up.

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

In 1995, she began starring as character Dotty Turnbull in television commercials for supermarket giant Tesco - which paid her partly in vouchers.

The advertising series, which ran for nine years, was cited as the primary reason in establishing its dominant market position in the mid 1990s.

Scales subsequently faced some gentle criticism for taking part in the Tesco adverts, when she backed a campaign to stop local shops closing in her London community.

Among her most accomplished roles appeared in the production Breaking the Code, the film about the Bletchley Park wartime codebreakers.

She portrays Alan Turing's mother, who embodies a society that treated homosexual acts as a crime, an attitude that eventually led to his death.

Beyond performance, {Scales was