The Legendary 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 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 keep tabs on her husband Basil described as a "stick insect" - played by John Cleese - between telephone chats fueled by cigarettes with her friend, Audrey.

It fell to her to placate guests who had been shouted at, completely overlooked or, occasionally, 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.

And while many actors would have removed themselves from excessive identification with a single role, Scales always expressed her pleasure in having been part of the Fawlty Towers phenomenon.

Formative Years and Professional Start

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

She belonged to a household deeply in love with theatrical arts - her mother being, Bim Scales, an ex-actress who'd given it all up for marriage and children.

Bright and bookish, following evacuation during the war to England's Lake District, Prunella studied at Moira House Girls School in Eastbourne.

In 1949, she won a scholarship to the Old Vic Theatre School and - after two years - secured a position as an assistant stage manager.

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

At drama school, Scales had been thought of as a junior character actor rather than an obvious Juliet.

"We all wanted to look like Audrey Hepburn," she later told her biographer, "but I wasn't attractive and nobody fancied me."

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

But she started picking up minor parts in plays, and, while rehearsing for a role at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, she encountered Andrew Sachs, who would later star as Manuel, the Spanish waiter, in Fawlty Towers.

Her initial television exposure occurred in 1952, as the character Lydia Bennet in a BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, which featured Peter Cushing - more famous for his roles in horror movies - as Mr. Darcy.

Her initial film appearances came a year later - in lighthearted romance, the film Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's Hobson's Choice, opposite Charles Laughton.

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

She also met colleague Timothy West.

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

Breakthrough and Iconic Roles

Her major television opportunity arrived through Marriage Lines, a comedy program about a newly married couple, George and Kate Starling.

Scales performed alongside actor Richard Briers, then one of the biggest stars in TV humor. The program achieved great success and continued for five seasons.

Then came 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 broadcasting corporation.

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

She later remembered 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 initial season, which debuted in 1975, failed to win huge audiences but, as it continued, its hilarious mix of ridiculous physical comedy and embarrassing situations grew in popularity.

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

Initially, John Cleese and his wife had doubts regarding the treatment.

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

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

However when questioned about her career pinnacle, Scales had no hesitation in picking Sybil Fawlty.

"The role presented challenges," she maintained, "yet I remain proud of my work." She believed it assisted in bringing 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 the television industry, including a stint as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in ITV's Mapp and Lucia.

Her voice was also regularly heard on radio, particularly the comedy program After Henry, which subsequently transferred to television, and Ladies of Letters, with actress Patricia Routledge, which evolved into a staple of Woman's Hour.

Scales appeared in two significant royal characters; as Queen Elizabeth II in the television drama of Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution, and as 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 explained. "The experience delighted me."

During 1995, she started appearing as Dotty Turnbull in a series of TV adverts for the retail chain Tesco - which compensated her partially with shopping credits.

The campaign, which continued for nine years, was identified as the biggest factor in propelling it to market leadership in the mid-nineties.

Scales later came in for moderate critique for taking part in the commercial campaign, when she supported an initiative to prevent neighborhood store closures in her London community.

One of her finest performances appeared in the production Breaking the Code, the film about the Bletchley Park wartime codebreakers.

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

Beyond performance, {Scales was