Prunella Scales: Beginning with the Iconic Fawlty Towers to Great Canal Journeys

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

Although an extensive and respected career on stage and screen, she will inevitably be remembered as the unforgettable Sybil Fawlty in the classic 1970s television series, the beloved Fawlty Towers.

It was Sybil's mission throughout her existence to keep tabs on her "stick insect" husband Basil - portrayed by John Cleese - between telephone chats fueled by cigarettes with her companion Audrey.

She was tasked to calm visitors who had been yelled at, completely overlooked or, in some cases, physically confronted by Basil when in one of his more manic moods.

Her nightmarish laugh, gravity-defying hairdo and ferocious temper were components of a carefully constructed character that ranks as a comic masterpiece.

And while many actors would have removed themselves from too close an association with one particular character, Scales consistently voiced her delight in having been part of the Fawlty Towers experience.

Formative Years and Professional Start

The actress born Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth came into the world near Guildford on 22 June 1932.

It was a family profoundly passionate about the theatre - with her mother, Catherine Scales, a former actor who'd given it all up for family life.

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

During 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 was to the fury of her previous school principal in her hometown, who had wished she would seek admission to Cambridge and wrote to the theatre to tell them so.

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

"We all wanted to look like Audrey Hepburn," she subsequently informed her biographer, "however I lacked conventional beauty and attracted no admirers."

The youthful Prunella concealed her privileged background, aware that directors were beginning to look for a new kind of earthy credibility in their actors.

Nevertheless she began acquiring small roles in plays, and, while rehearsing for a part at Worthing's Connaught Theatre, she met Andrew Sachs, who would later star as Manuel the Spanish server, in the famous series.

There was an early television appearance in the year 1952, as Lydia Bennet in a television adaptation of Jane Austen's 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, the film Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's Hobson's Choice, opposite Charles Laughton.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, she maintained constant employment - performing across multiple mediums, featuring a short appearance as a bus conductor, character Eileen Hughes, in the popular soap Coronation Street.

She also met 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 major television opportunity arrived through Marriage Lines, a BBC sitcom about recentlyweds, the Starling couple.

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

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

John Cleese and his spouse at the time, Connie Booth, had submitted the first script of their comedy creation to the BBC.

Performer Bridget Turner had been considered for Sybil Fawlty 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 ultimately produced.

The initial season, which aired in 1975, failed to win huge audiences but, with subsequent episodes, its comedic combination of ridiculous physical comedy and awkward circumstances grew in popularity.

Scales thought hard about portraying Sybil Fawlty, and decided that her character's upbringing had to be below her husband Basil's.

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 was, all too often, called upon to play "dragons" and "old bags" when she hankered after elegant characters.

However when questioned about her career pinnacle, Scales had no hesitation in selecting Sybil Fawlty.

"The role presented challenges," she insisted, "but I'm still proud of it." She even thought it helped get the paying public into performance venues.

"I believe that audience familiarity with one performance encourages attendance at others," she said.

Later Career and Personal Life

Following Fawlty Towers, Scales continued to work in the television industry, comprising a stint as character Elizabeth Mapp in the series Mapp and Lucia.

Her voice was also regularly heard on radio, particularly the BBC Radio 4 sitcom, which later transitioned to TV, and Ladies of Letters, with Patricia Routledge, which evolved into a staple of Woman's Hour.

Scales performed two significant royal characters; as Queen Elizabeth II in the television drama of Alan Bennett's work, and as the monarch Queen Victoria in a solo performance that she presented four hundred times.

She obtained correspondence from one of Queen Elizabeth's security men who confessed that when Scales appeared, he rose to his feet.

"The response was automatic," she explained. "I was thrilled."

In 1995, she started appearing as Dotty Turnbull in television commercials for the retail chain Tesco - which paid her partly in vouchers.

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

Scales subsequently faced some gentle criticism for participating 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 the production Breaking the Code, the film about World War II cryptanalysts.

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

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