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

Prunella Scales, who passed away at 93 years old, was considered among Britain's most brilliant comedic performers.

Despite an extensive and respected professional journey across theater and film, she will inevitably be remembered as Sybil Fawlty in the 1970s TV comedy, Fawlty Towers.

Sybil's primary objective throughout her existence to keep tabs on her "stick insect" husband Basil - played by comedian John Cleese - between cigarette-fuelled phone conversations with her companion Audrey.

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

Her nightmarish laugh, extraordinary hairstyle and intense anger were components of a meticulously crafted persona that ranks as a comic masterpiece.

Although many actors would have distanced themselves from excessive identification with a single role, Scales always expressed her pleasure in having been part of the Fawlty Towers phenomenon.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth was born in the Guildford area on June 22nd, 1932.

She belonged to a household profoundly passionate about the theatre - with her mother, Bim Scales, an ex-actress who'd abandoned her career for marriage and children.

Bright and bookish, after wartime evacuation to the Lake District, Prunella attended Moira House educational institution in Eastbourne.

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

This decision angered of her previous school principal in her hometown, who had wished she would seek admission to Cambridge University and wrote to the theatre to tell them so.

During her theatrical training, Scales was perceived as a junior character actor instead of an obvious Juliet.

"Everyone aspired to resemble Audrey Hepburn," she later told her biographer, "but I wasn't attractive and nobody fancied me."

Young Prunella concealed her middle-class roots, conscious that directors were beginning to look for a new kind of earthy credibility in performers.

But she started picking up minor parts in theatrical productions, and, during preparations for a role at Worthing's Connaught Theatre, she met actor Andrew Sachs, who would later star as Manuel, the Spanish waiter, in the famous series.

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

Her initial film appearances came a year later - in lighthearted romance, Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's production Hobson's Choice, alongside the renowned Charles Laughton.

Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, she maintained constant employment - appearing on stage, film and television, including a short appearance as transport worker, Eileen Hughes, in 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 the series Marriage Lines, a BBC sitcom about recentlyweds, the Starling couple.

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

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

John Cleese and his then wife, Connie Booth, had presented the initial screenplay of Fawlty Towers to the broadcasting corporation.

Performer Bridget Turner had been approached to play Sybil Fawlty but she had turned it down and Scales auditioned for the role.

She later remembered that Cleese was a hard taskmaster.

"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 first series, which debuted in 1975, didn't immediately attract massive viewership but, with subsequent episodes, its comedic combination of absurd pratfalls and embarrassing situations grew in popularity.

Scales carefully considered about how to play Sybil Fawlty, and decided that her character's upbringing had to be below Basil's social standing.

Initially, John Cleese and his wife had doubts regarding the treatment.

"After witnessing the initial read-through," Scales remembered, "they were sold on the idea."

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

But when asked about what she thought was the high point, Scales immediately identified in picking Sybil Fawlty.

"The role presented challenges," she maintained, "yet I remain proud of my work." She even thought it helped get audience members 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.

Subsequent Work and Private World

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

Her vocal talents were frequently featured on audio broadcasts, notably the comedy program After Henry, which later transitioned to TV, and Ladies of Letters, with actress Patricia Routledge, which evolved into a staple of Woman's Hour.

Scales appeared in at two major royal roles; as Queen Elizabeth II in the television drama of Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution, and as the monarch Queen Victoria in a one-woman show that she presented four hundred times.

She once received a letter from a royal protection officer who confessed that when Scales came on stage, he rose to his feet.

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

In 1995, she began starring as character Dotty Turnbull in television commercials for supermarket giant Tesco - which compensated her partially with shopping credits.

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

Scales subsequently faced moderate critique for participating in the commercial campaign, 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 movie concerning World War II cryptanalysts.

She appears as 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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