The Legendary Prunella Scales: Beginning with the Iconic Fawlty Towers to Great Canal Journeys

The celebrated actress Prunella Scales, who passed away at the age of 93, was regarded as one of Britain's finest comedic performers.

Although a long and distinguished career on stage and screen, her legacy will forever be linked as 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 - played by comedian John Cleese - between cigarette-fuelled phone conversations with her companion Audrey.

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

Her nightmarish laugh, gravity-defying hairdo and ferocious temper were part of a meticulously crafted persona that stands as a humorous triumph.

And while many actors would have distanced themselves from too close an association with one particular character, Scales always expressed her delight in participating of the Fawlty Towers experience.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

The actress born Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth was born near Guildford on 22 June 1932.

It was a family profoundly passionate about the theatre - her mother being, Catherine Scales, an ex-actress who'd abandoned her career for family life.

Intelligent and studious, after wartime evacuation to the Lake District, Prunella attended 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 Eastbourne, who had hoped she would apply to Cambridge and sent correspondence to the theater to tell them so.

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

The youthful Prunella also hid her privileged background, aware that producers started seeking a new kind of earthy credibility in their actors.

Nevertheless she began acquiring small roles in theatrical productions, and, while rehearsing for a part at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, she encountered Andrew Sachs, who would subsequently appear as Manuel the Spanish server, 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 featured Peter Cushing - more famous for his horror film performances - as Mr Darcy.

And her first big screen roles came a year later - in lighthearted romance, the film Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's Hobson's Choice, opposite the renowned Charles Laughton.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, she maintained constant employment - appearing on stage, film and television, featuring a short appearance as transport worker, character Eileen Hughes, in Coronation Street.

She also met colleague Timothy West.

After what Prunella described as "a gentle courtship involving crosswords and candies", they got together, and wed in 1963.

Career Milestones and Defining Characters

Her big TV break arrived through Marriage Lines, a BBC sitcom about recentlyweds, George and Kate Starling.

Scales appeared opposite Richard Briers, at that time a major celebrity in TV humor. The program achieved great success and ran for five years.

Subsequently arrived Fawlty Towers, which elevated her to cultural icon.

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

Actress Bridget Turner had been approached to play the Sybil role but she declined the part and Scales auditioned for the role.

She subsequently recalled that Cleese was a hard taskmaster.

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

Merely twelve installments were ever made.

The first series, which debuted in 1975, failed to win huge audiences but, with subsequent episodes, its comedic combination of ridiculous physical comedy and embarrassing situations grew in popularity.

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

Initially, the creators were unsure about 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 hankered after elegant characters.

However when questioned about what she thought was the high point, Scales had no hesitation in picking Sybil Fawlty.

"It was a tough job," she insisted, "but I'm still proud of it." She believed it helped get audience members 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.

Subsequent Work and Private World

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 vocal talents were frequently featured on audio broadcasts, particularly the comedy program After Henry, which later transitioned to TV, and Ladies of Letters, with actress Patricia Routledge, which became an intrinsic part of the program Woman's Hour.

Scales appeared in at two major royal roles; as Queen Elizabeth in the BBC production of Alan Bennett's work, and as Queen Victoria in a one-woman show that she performed 400 times.

She obtained correspondence from a royal protection officer who confessed that when Scales came on stage, he stood up.

"The response was automatic," 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 paid her partly in vouchers.

The campaign, which ran for nine years, was cited as the biggest factor in establishing its dominant market position in the mid-nineties.

Scales later came in for some gentle criticism 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 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 criminalized same-sex relationships, an attitude that eventually led to his death.

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