Prunella Scales: Beginning with Fawlty Towers to Great Canal Journeys

Prunella Scales, who died at 93 years old, was regarded as among Britain's most brilliant comedic performers.

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

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

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

Her nightmarish laugh, extraordinary hairstyle and intense anger were components of a carefully constructed character that stands as a humorous triumph.

And while numerous performers would have distanced themselves from excessive identification with a single role, Scales always expressed her pleasure in having been part of the Fawlty Towers experience.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

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

It was a family deeply in love with theatrical arts - with her mother, Catherine Scales, an ex-actress who'd given it all up for marriage and children.

Bright and bookish, following evacuation during the war to the Lake District, Prunella studied at Moira House Girls School in the coastal town of Eastbourne.

During 1949, she won a scholarship to the prestigious Old Vic drama school and - after two years - secured a position as a stage management assistant.

This was to the fury 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.

At drama school, Scales was perceived as a developing character performer rather than 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 concealed her privileged background, aware that directors were beginning to look for a new kind of earthy credibility in performers.

Nevertheless she began acquiring small roles in theatrical productions, and, during preparations for a part at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, she met actor Andrew Sachs, who would subsequently appear as Manuel, the Spanish waiter, in Fawlty Towers.

There was an early television appearance in the year 1952, as the character Lydia Bennet in a BBC production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which included Peter Cushing - more famous for his roles in horror movies - as Mr Darcy.

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

Throughout the latter 1950s and early 1960s, she was rarely out of work - performing across multiple mediums, featuring a brief stint as a bus conductor, character Eileen Hughes, in Coronation Street.

She also met fellow actor Timothy West.

Following what she characterized as "a mild Times crossword and Polo mints flirtation", they got together, and married in 1963.

Breakthrough and Iconic Roles

Her major television opportunity arrived through the series Marriage Lines, a comedy program about a newly married couple, the Starling couple.

Scales appeared opposite Richard Briers, at that time a major celebrity in television comedy. The show proved hugely popular and ran for five years.

Then came 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 Fawlty Towers to the broadcasting corporation.

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

She subsequently recalled that Cleese maintained high standards.

"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 aired 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 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 were sold on the idea."

In subsequent years, she was, all too often, requested to portray "dragons" and "old bags" when she desired more glamorous roles.

But when asked about her career pinnacle, Scales immediately identified in selecting Sybil Fawlty.

"It was a tough job," she maintained, "but I'm still proud of it." She even thought 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 expressed.

Later Career and Personal Life

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

Her voice was also regularly heard on radio, particularly the BBC Radio 4 sitcom, which subsequently transferred to television, and Ladies of Letters, with actress Patricia Routledge, which became an intrinsic part of Woman's Hour.

Scales appeared in at two major royal roles; as Queen Elizabeth in the television drama of Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution, and as Queen Victoria in a solo performance that she performed 400 times.

She obtained correspondence from one of Queen Elizabeth's security men who admitted that when Scales appeared, he stood up.

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

In 1995, she started appearing as Dotty Turnbull in a series of TV adverts for supermarket giant Tesco - which compensated her partially with shopping credits.

The advertising series, which ran for nine years, was identified as the primary reason in propelling it to market leadership in the mid-nineties.

Scales subsequently faced moderate critique for participating in the Tesco adverts, when she supported an initiative to prevent neighborhood store closures in her London community.

One of her finest performances came in Breaking the Code, the film about World War II cryptanalysts.

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

Beyond performance, {Scales was