Fawlty Towers actress Prunella Scales has died aged 93, her family have confirmed.
Scales was best known for playing hotel manager Sybil Fawlty, the long-suffering and domineering wife of Basil – played by John Cleese – in the classic British sitcom.
The actress died “peacefully at home in London yesterday”, her sons Samuel and Joseph said.
They added that she was watching Fawlty Towers the day before she died. Scales had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.
“Our darling mother Prunella Scales died peacefully at home in London yesterday. She was 93,” her sons told the PA News agency.
“Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home.”
Her husband, fellow actor Timothy West, died in November last year.
She is survived by two sons and one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The statement added: “We would like to thank all those who gave Pru such wonderful care at the end of her life: her last days were comfortable, contented and surrounded by love.”
Fawlty Towers co-star Cleese described Scales as “a really wonderful comic actress,” adding: “Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect.”
Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth remembered her as “a funny, intelligent, interesting, gifted human being”.
Jon Petrie, director of comedy at the BBC, offered: “She was a national treasure whose brilliance as Sybil Fawlty lit up screens and still makes us laugh today.”
Scales also went on to receive a Bafta nomination for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett’s 1991 televised play, A Question of Attribution.
But she will forever be most closely identified with the domineering and long-suffering comedy creation Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, best defined by one bark of “Basil”.
This year marked 50 years since the classic comedy Fawlty Towers first appeared on our screens.
In the sitcom, the aspirational and stylish Sybil – with her permed hair and sharp skirt suits – ruled the roost over her bumbling and often hapless husband Basil as they both attempted to run a Torquay hotel.
Often, when he was on the verge of a crisis, she would arrive and step in to either clear up his mess or benefit from his misfortune.
He referred to her by a number of negative nicknames including “the dragon” and “my little piranha fish”, but only behind her back as he’s terrified of her.
In one episode, titled The Psychiatrist, Basil finally loses his patience and snaps at his wife, declaring: “Shut up, I’m fed up.”
“Oh, you’ve done it now,” responds Sybil.
Speaking of her character, Scales once said: “I feel very grateful for Sybil. Fawlty Towers was very hard to make, but it was very stimulating.”
But in an interview with the Independent last year, she said she “loves it when people don’t” ask her about the show as she found the topic “boring”.
Later in life, she enjoyed an unlikely hit with Channel 4’s Great Canal Journeys, travelling waterways in the UK and elsewhere with her late husband.
“We didn’t start out thinking it was going to be an especially exciting performance for people to watch,” admitted West in an interview with the BBC’s Colin Paterson in 2023.
But for 10 series, they made canals captivating. “We were good at it,” he smiled.
West noted how his wife’s dementia would not break their 60-year love story.
Following the annoncement of her death on Tuesday, Corinne Mills, interim chief executive officer for Alzheimer’s Society, praised the actress for raising awareness.
She said: “We are deeply saddened by the news that Prunella Scales – a true British icon – has died.
“Prunella was an inspiration not just for her achievements on screen, but because she spoke so openly about living with dementia, shining an important light on the UK’s biggest killer.”
She added: “We are profoundly grateful for the awareness she helped to raise and send our heartfelt condolences to her loved ones.”
West End
Scales’ big acting break came in the early 1960s sitcom Marriage Lines, and she also featured in various BBC Radio 4 sitcoms.
She appeared on the West End in productions like Long Day’s Journey Into Night in 1991, again alongside her husband, as well as the TV and radio comedy After Henry.
Her other credits include the 1987 film The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne and the 1988 comedy Consuming Passions, opposite Dame Vanessa Redgrave and Sir Jonathan Pryce.
by BBC NEWS
