Prunella Scales: From Fawlty Towers to Great Canal Journeys

Prunella Scales, who died at the age of 93, was considered among Britain's most brilliant comedic performers.

Despite an extensive and respected career on stage and screen, she will inevitably be remembered as Sybil Fawlty in the 1970s TV comedy, Fawlty Towers.

It was Sybil's mission in life 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 placate guests who had been yelled at, completely overlooked or, occasionally, throttled by Basil when during his particularly frenzied episodes.

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

Although numerous performers would have removed themselves from too close an association with one particular character, Scales consistently voiced her pleasure in having been part of the Fawlty Towers experience.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

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

She belonged to a household deeply in love with theatrical arts - with her mother, Bim Scales, an ex-actress who'd abandoned her career for family life.

Intelligent and studious, after wartime evacuation to England's Lake District, Prunella studied at Moira House educational institution in the coastal town of Eastbourne.

In 1949, she earned a scholarship to the prestigious Old Vic drama school and - after two years - obtained a role as a stage management assistant.

This was to the fury of her previous school principal in her hometown, who had wished she would seek admission to Cambridge and sent correspondence to the theater to express this opinion.

During her theatrical training, Scales had been thought of as a junior character actor instead of an obvious Juliet.

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

Young Prunella also hid her privileged background, conscious that directors were beginning to look for authentic working-class realism in performers.

Nevertheless she began acquiring small roles in theatrical productions, and, while rehearsing for a role at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, she encountered actor Andrew Sachs, who would later star as Manuel the Spanish server, in Fawlty Towers.

There was an early television appearance in 1952, as Lydia Bennet in a television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which included actor Peter Cushing - better known for his horror film performances - as Mr Darcy.

Her initial film appearances followed the next year - in lighthearted romance, Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's Hobson's Choice, opposite the renowned Charles Laughton.

During the latter 1950s and early 1960s, she was rarely out of work - performing across multiple mediums, 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 married in 1963.

Breakthrough and Iconic Roles

Her major television opportunity came with the series Marriage Lines, a BBC sitcom about a newly married couple, George and Kate Starling.

Scales performed alongside Richard Briers, at that time a major celebrity in TV humor. The show proved hugely popular and ran for five years.

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

John Cleese and his spouse at the time, Connie Booth, had presented the initial screenplay of their comedy creation to the BBC.

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

She later remembered that Cleese maintained high standards.

"John, appropriately, demanded strict script adherence, and failure to comply would understandably provoke his irritation."

Only 12 episodes were ultimately produced.

The initial season, which debuted in 1975, failed to win huge audiences but, as it continued, its hilarious mix of ridiculous physical comedy and embarrassing situations increased in appeal.

Scales carefully considered about how to play Sybil Fawlty, and determined that her social background had to be inferior to Basil's social standing.

At first, the creators had doubts regarding this approach.

"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 desired elegant characters.

However when questioned about what she thought was the high point, Scales immediately identified in selecting Sybil Fawlty.

"It was a tough job," 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 said.

Later Career and Personal Life

After Fawlty Towers, Scales maintained her career in the television industry, including an engagement as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in the series Mapp and Lucia.

Her voice was also regularly heard on audio broadcasts, particularly the BBC Radio 4 sitcom, which later transitioned to TV, and Ladies of Letters, with Patricia Routledge, which became an intrinsic part of the program Woman's Hour.

Scales performed at two major royal roles; as Queen Elizabeth II in the BBC production of Alan Bennett's work, and as the monarch Queen Victoria in a solo performance that she performed 400 times.

She once received a letter from one of Queen Elizabeth's security men who confessed that when Scales appeared, he rose to his feet.

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

During 1995, she started appearing as Dotty Turnbull in a series of TV adverts for supermarket giant Tesco - which paid her partly in vouchers.

The campaign, which ran for nine years, was identified as the biggest factor in propelling it to market leadership 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 came in Breaking the Code, the film about the Bletchley Park wartime codebreakers.

She portrays the mother of Alan Turing, who represents a culture that treated homosexual acts as a crime, an attitude that eventually led to his death.

Beyond performance, {Scales was