Prunella Scales: Beginning with Fawlty Towers to Great Canal Journeys

Prunella Scales, who died at the age of 93, was considered one of Britain's finest comic actors.

Despite a long and distinguished professional journey across theater and film, she will inevitably be remembered as the unforgettable Sybil Fawlty in the 1970s TV comedy, Fawlty Towers.

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

She was tasked to placate guests who had been shouted at, completely overlooked or, occasionally, physically confronted by Basil when in one of his more manic moods.

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

And while numerous performers would have removed themselves from too close an association with one particular character, Scales always expressed her pleasure in participating of the Fawlty Towers experience.

Formative Years and Professional Start

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

It was a family deeply in love with the theatre - with her mother, Bim Scales, a former actor who'd given it all up for family life.

Intelligent and studious, after wartime evacuation 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 - two years later - secured a position as an assistant stage manager.

This was to the fury of her former headmistress in her hometown, who had hoped she would apply to Cambridge University and sent correspondence to the theater to tell them so.

During her theatrical training, Scales had been thought of as a developing character performer rather than an obvious Juliet.

"Everyone aspired to resemble Audrey Hepburn," she subsequently informed her biographer, "but I wasn't attractive and nobody fancied me."

The youthful Prunella also hid her middle-class roots, conscious that directors were beginning to look for a new kind of earthy credibility in their actors.

Nevertheless she began acquiring small roles in theatrical productions, and, while rehearsing for a role at Worthing's Connaught Theatre, she encountered Andrew Sachs, who would subsequently appear as Manuel, the Spanish waiter, in the famous series.

Her initial television exposure occurred in 1952, as the character Lydia Bennet in a television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which featured actor Peter Cushing - more famous for his horror film performances - as Mr. Darcy.

Her initial film appearances came a year later - in romantic comedy, the film Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's Hobson's Choice, alongside the renowned Charles Laughton.

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

She additionally encountered colleague Timothy West.

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

Breakthrough and Iconic Roles

Her big TV break came with Marriage Lines, a comedy program about recentlyweds, George and Kate Starling.

Scales appeared opposite actor Richard Briers, then one of the biggest stars in TV humor. The show proved hugely popular and continued for five seasons.

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

John Cleese and his then wife, Connie Booth, had submitted the first script of their comedy creation to the broadcasting corporation.

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

Merely twelve installments were ultimately produced.

The first series, which aired in 1975, didn't immediately attract massive viewership 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 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," Scales remembered, "they embraced the concept completely."

Later in her career, she was, all too often, requested to portray stern matriarchs when she hankered after elegant characters.

But when asked 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 even thought it helped get audience members into theaters.

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

Later Career and Personal Life

Following Fawlty Towers, Scales continued to work in the television industry, including a stint as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in ITV's Mapp and Lucia.

Her voice was also regularly heard on audio broadcasts, particularly the comedy program After Henry, which later transitioned to TV, and Ladies of Letters, with Patricia Routledge, which evolved into a staple of the program 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 performed 400 times.

She once received a letter from a royal protection officer who confessed that when Scales appeared, he stood up.

"The response was automatic," she clarified. "I was thrilled."

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

The campaign, which continued for nine years, was cited as the primary reason in establishing its dominant market position in the mid-nineties.

Scales later came in for some gentle criticism for participating in the commercial campaign, when she backed a campaign to stop local shops closing in her London community.

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

She appears as the mother of Alan Turing, who embodies a society that criminalized same-sex relationships, a perspective that contributed to his tragic end.

Away from acting, {Scales was