Prunella Scales: From the Iconic Fawlty Towers to Great Canal Journeys

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

Despite an extensive and respected professional journey across theater and film, her legacy will forever be linked as the unforgettable Sybil Fawlty in the classic 1970s television series, the beloved Fawlty Towers.

Sybil's primary objective in life to keep tabs on her "stick insect" husband Basil - portrayed by comedian John Cleese - between telephone chats fueled by cigarettes with her friend, Audrey.

It fell to her to calm visitors who had been yelled at, totally ignored or, occasionally, physically confronted by Basil when during his particularly frenzied episodes.

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

And while 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.

Formative Years and Professional Start

Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth was born near Guildford on June 22nd, 1932.

She belonged to a household profoundly passionate about the theatre - with her mother, Bim Scales, a former actor who'd given it all up for family life.

Bright and bookish, following evacuation during the war to England's Lake District, Prunella attended Moira House Girls School in the coastal town of Eastbourne.

In 1949, she earned a scholarship to the Old Vic Theatre School and - after two years - secured a position as a stage management assistant.

This decision angered of her former headmistress in her hometown, who had wished she would seek admission to Cambridge and wrote to the theatre to express this opinion.

During her theatrical training, Scales was perceived as a junior character actor rather than a natural Juliet candidate.

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

Young Prunella concealed her middle-class roots, aware 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, 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.

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

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

Throughout the latter 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 additionally encountered fellow actor Timothy West.

After what Prunella described as "a mild Times crossword and Polo mints flirtation", they became a couple, and wed in 1963.

Career Milestones and Defining Characters

Her big TV break arrived through the series Marriage Lines, a comedy program about recentlyweds, the Starling couple.

Scales appeared opposite Richard Briers, then one of the biggest stars in TV humor. The program achieved great success and continued for five seasons.

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

John Cleese and his spouse at the time, 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 declined the part and Scales tried out for the character.

She later remembered that Cleese was a hard taskmaster.

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

Only 12 episodes were ever made.

The first series, which debuted in 1975, failed to win huge audiences but, with subsequent episodes, its comedic combination of absurd pratfalls and awkward circumstances increased in appeal.

Scales thought hard 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," recalled Scales, "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 her career pinnacle, Scales immediately identified in selecting Sybil Fawlty.

"It was a tough job," she maintained, "yet I remain proud of my work." She believed it helped get audience members into performance venues.

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

Later Career and Personal Life

After Fawlty Towers, Scales maintained her career in the television industry, comprising a stint as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in ITV's Mapp and Lucia.

Her voice was also regularly heard on audio broadcasts, notably the comedy program After Henry, which later transitioned to TV, and Ladies of Letters, with Patricia Routledge, which became an intrinsic part 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 performed 400 times.

She obtained correspondence from a royal protection officer who confessed that when Scales appeared, he rose to his feet.

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

During 1995, she started appearing as character Dotty Turnbull in a series of TV adverts for the retail chain Tesco - which compensated her partially with shopping credits.

The advertising series, which ran for nine years, was identified as the primary reason in establishing its dominant market position in the mid-nineties.

Scales later came in for moderate critique for participating in the Tesco adverts, when she backed a campaign to stop local shops closing in her area of London.

Among her most accomplished roles came in the production Breaking the Code, the film about the Bletchley Park wartime codebreakers.

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

Beyond performance, {Scales was