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

The celebrated actress Prunella Scales, who died at the age of 93, was regarded as one of Britain's finest comic actors.

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

Sybil's primary objective in life to keep tabs on her husband Basil described as a "stick insect" - portrayed by comedian John Cleese - between cigarette-fuelled phone conversations with her friend, Audrey.

She was tasked to calm visitors who had been yelled at, totally ignored or, occasionally, throttled by Basil when during his particularly frenzied episodes.

Her unforgettable cackle, gravity-defying hairdo and ferocious temper were components of a carefully constructed character that ranks as a humorous triumph.

Although numerous performers would have distanced themselves from too close an association with one particular character, Scales consistently voiced her delight in participating of the Fawlty Towers phenomenon.

Formative Years and Professional Start

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

She belonged to a household profoundly passionate about theatrical arts - with her mother, Bim Scales, an ex-actress who'd abandoned her career for marriage and children.

Intelligent and studious, after wartime evacuation to the Lake District, Prunella studied at Moira House educational institution in 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 was to the fury of her former headmistress in Eastbourne, who had wished she would seek admission to Cambridge University and wrote to the theatre to express this opinion.

At drama school, Scales was perceived as a junior character actor instead of an obvious Juliet.

"We all wanted to look like Audrey Hepburn," she subsequently informed her chronicler, "however I lacked conventional beauty and attracted no admirers."

Young Prunella concealed her middle-class roots, aware that producers started seeking a new kind of earthy credibility in their actors.

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

There was an early television appearance in 1952, as Lydia Bennet in a BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, which featured Peter Cushing - better known for his horror film performances - as Mr Darcy.

And her first big screen roles followed the next year - in lighthearted romance, Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's Hobson's Choice, alongside Charles Laughton.

During the latter 1950s and early 1960s, she maintained constant employment - performing across multiple mediums, including a brief stint as a bus conductor, character Eileen Hughes, in Coronation Street.

She also met colleague Timothy West.

Following what she characterized as "a gentle courtship involving crosswords and candies", they became a couple, and wed in 1963.

Career Milestones and Defining Characters

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

Scales appeared opposite Richard Briers, then one of the biggest stars in television comedy. The program achieved great success 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 submitted the first script of Fawlty Towers to the BBC.

Performer Bridget Turner had been considered for Sybil Fawlty but she had turned it down and Scales tried out for the character.

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."

Only 12 episodes were ultimately produced.

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

Scales thought hard about how to play Sybil Fawlty, and decided that her social background had to be below Basil's social standing.

Initially, the creators had doubts regarding this approach.

"Once they heard the first reading in rehearsal," recalled Scales, "they were sold on the idea."

Later in her career, she was, all too often, requested to portray "dragons" and "old bags" when she hankered after more glamorous roles.

However when questioned about her career pinnacle, Scales immediately identified in selecting Sybil Fawlty.

"The role presented challenges," she insisted, "but I'm still proud of it." She even thought it assisted in bringing the paying public into performance venues.

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

Subsequent Work and Private World

After Fawlty Towers, Scales continued to work in the television industry, comprising an engagement as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in the series Mapp and Lucia.

Her vocal talents were frequently featured on audio broadcasts, particularly the BBC Radio 4 sitcom, which subsequently transferred to television, and Ladies of Letters, with actress Patricia Routledge, which evolved into a staple of Woman's Hour.

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

She once received a letter from a royal protection officer who admitted that when Scales appeared, he rose to his feet.

"The response was automatic," she clarified. "The experience delighted me."

During 1995, she began starring as character Dotty Turnbull in television commercials for supermarket giant Tesco - which compensated her partially with shopping credits.

The advertising series, which ran for nine years, was identified as the biggest factor in establishing its dominant market position in the mid 1990s.

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.

Among her most accomplished roles appeared in the production Breaking the Code, the movie concerning the Bletchley Park wartime codebreakers.

She portrays Alan Turing's mother, who represents a culture that treated homosexual acts as a crime, a perspective that contributed to his tragic end.

Beyond performance, {Scales was