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

The celebrated actress Prunella Scales, who died at the age of 93, was regarded as one of Britain's finest comic actors.

Although an extensive and respected professional journey across theater and film, she will inevitably be remembered as the unforgettable Sybil Fawlty in the classic 1970s television series, Fawlty Towers.

It was Sybil's mission in life to closely monitor her "stick insect" husband Basil - portrayed by comedian John Cleese - amid telephone chats fueled by cigarettes with her companion Audrey.

It fell to her to calm visitors who had been shouted at, totally ignored or, in some cases, physically confronted by Basil when in one of his more manic moods.

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

Although many actors would have removed themselves from excessive identification with one particular character, Scales consistently voiced her pleasure in having been part of the Fawlty Towers phenomenon.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

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

She belonged to a household profoundly passionate about the theatre - her mother being, Catherine Scales, a former actor who'd abandoned her career for family life.

Intelligent and studious, following evacuation during the war to the Lake District, Prunella studied at Moira House Girls School in Eastbourne.

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

This decision angered of her former headmistress in Eastbourne, who had wished she would seek admission to Cambridge University and sent correspondence to the theater to express this opinion.

During her theatrical training, Scales had been thought of as a developing character performer rather than a natural Juliet candidate.

"Everyone aspired to resemble Audrey Hepburn," she subsequently informed her chronicler, "however I lacked conventional beauty and attracted no admirers."

Young Prunella also hid her privileged background, conscious that producers started seeking authentic working-class realism in their actors.

But she started picking up minor parts in theatrical productions, and, during preparations for a part at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, 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 BBC production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which included actor Peter Cushing - more famous 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 production Hobson's Choice, opposite Charles Laughton.

During the latter 1950s and early 1960s, she was rarely out of work - appearing on stage, film and television, featuring a brief stint as transport worker, Eileen Hughes, in the popular soap Coronation Street.

She also met fellow actor 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 arrived through Marriage Lines, a comedy program about a newly married couple, George and Kate Starling.

Scales performed alongside actor Richard Briers, then one of the biggest stars in TV humor. The program achieved great success and ran for five years.

Subsequently arrived the legendary Fawlty Towers, which propelled her to iconic status.

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

Actress Bridget Turner had been considered for Sybil Fawlty but she declined the part and Scales tried out for the character.

She subsequently recalled 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 ever made.

The initial season, which debuted in 1975, failed to win huge audiences but, as it continued, its hilarious mix 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.

Initially, the creators were unsure about the treatment.

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

Later in her career, she was, all too often, called upon to play "dragons" and "old bags" when she desired elegant characters.

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

"The role presented challenges," she maintained, "but I'm still proud of it." She even thought it assisted in bringing audience members into theaters.

"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, including an engagement as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in ITV's Mapp and Lucia.

Her vocal talents were frequently featured on radio, particularly the BBC Radio 4 sitcom, which subsequently transferred to television, and 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 A Question of Attribution, and as Queen Victoria in a one-woman show that she performed 400 times.

She obtained correspondence from one of Queen Elizabeth's security men who confessed that when Scales came on stage, he stood up.

"It was a knee-jerk reaction," she clarified. "The experience delighted me."

During 1995, she began starring as Dotty Turnbull in a series of TV adverts 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-nineties.

Scales subsequently faced some gentle criticism for taking part in the Tesco adverts, when she supported an initiative to stop local shops closing in her area of London.

One of her finest performances appeared in Breaking the Code, the film about the Bletchley Park wartime codebreakers.

She portrays the mother of Alan Turing, who embodies a society that treated homosexual acts as a crime, a perspective that contributed to his tragic end.

Away from acting, {Scales was