Prunella Scales: From Fawlty Towers to Remarkable Canal Adventures

Prunella Scales, who passed away at 93 years old, was considered one of Britain's finest comedic performers.

Although a long and distinguished professional journey across theater and film, her legacy will forever be linked as the unforgettable Sybil Fawlty in the classic 1970s television series, Fawlty Towers.

It was Sybil's mission throughout her existence to closely monitor her husband Basil described as a "stick insect" - played by John Cleese - between cigarette-fuelled phone conversations with her companion Audrey.

She was tasked to calm visitors who had been yelled at, completely overlooked or, in some cases, throttled by Basil when during his particularly frenzied episodes.

Her nightmarish laugh, gravity-defying hairdo and intense anger were part of a carefully constructed character that stands as a humorous triumph.

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

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

She belonged to a household profoundly passionate about the theatre - her mother being, Bim Scales, an ex-actress who'd given it all up for marriage and children.

Intelligent and studious, after wartime evacuation to England's Lake District, Prunella attended Moira House educational institution in the coastal town of 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 former headmistress in her hometown, who had wished she would seek admission to Cambridge and wrote to the theatre to tell them so.

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 biographer, "but I wasn't attractive and nobody fancied me."

Young Prunella concealed her privileged background, conscious that producers started seeking a new kind of earthy credibility in performers.

But she started picking up small roles in plays, and, while rehearsing for a part 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 the year 1952, as the character Lydia Bennet in a BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, which included Peter Cushing - more famous for his horror film performances - 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, alongside Charles Laughton.

Throughout the latter 1950s and early 1960s, she was rarely out of work - performing across multiple mediums, including a short appearance as a bus conductor, character Eileen Hughes, in the popular soap Coronation Street.

She additionally encountered colleague Timothy West.

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

Career Milestones and Defining Characters

Her big TV break arrived through Marriage Lines, a comedy program about a newly married couple, George and Kate Starling.

Scales appeared opposite actor Richard Briers, at that time a major celebrity in television comedy. The show proved hugely popular 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 Fawlty Towers to the BBC.

Actress Bridget Turner had been considered for the Sybil role 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 ever made.

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

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

At first, the creators were unsure about this approach.

"After witnessing the initial read-through," Scales remembered, "they embraced the concept completely."

In subsequent years, she frequently found herself, called upon to play stern matriarchs when she desired elegant characters.

But when asked about what she thought was the high point, Scales had no hesitation in selecting Sybil Fawlty.

"The role presented challenges," she insisted, "yet I remain proud of my work." She believed it assisted in bringing the paying public into theaters.

"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

Following Fawlty Towers, Scales maintained her career in the television industry, comprising an engagement as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in ITV's Mapp and Lucia.

Her vocal talents were frequently featured on radio, notably the comedy program After Henry, which later transitioned to TV, and the series 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 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. "The experience delighted me."

In 1995, she began starring as character Dotty Turnbull in a series of TV adverts for the retail chain Tesco - which paid her partly in vouchers.

The advertising series, which continued for nine years, was cited as the primary reason 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 backed a campaign to stop local shops closing in her London community.

Among her most accomplished roles came in Breaking the Code, the film about World War II cryptanalysts.

She portrays Alan Turing's mother, who embodies a society that criminalized same-sex relationships, an attitude that eventually led to his death.

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