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

The celebrated actress 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 classic 1970s television series, the beloved Fawlty Towers.

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

It fell to her to calm visitors who had been shouted at, completely overlooked or, in some cases, throttled by Basil when in one of his more manic moods.

Her unforgettable cackle, gravity-defying hairdo and intense anger were components of a carefully constructed character that ranks as a comic masterpiece.

And while many actors would have distanced themselves from excessive identification with a single role, Scales always expressed her pleasure in participating of the Fawlty Towers experience.

Formative Years and Professional Start

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

It was a family profoundly passionate about theatrical arts - her mother being, Bim Scales, a former actor who'd abandoned her career for family life.

Intelligent and studious, following evacuation during the war to the Lake District, Prunella studied at Moira House educational institution in the coastal town of Eastbourne.

In 1949, she won a scholarship to the Old Vic Theatre School and - two years later - obtained a role as an assistant stage manager.

This was to the fury of her previous school principal in her hometown, who had hoped she would apply to Cambridge University and sent correspondence to the theater to express this opinion.

During her theatrical training, Scales was perceived as a developing character performer instead of a natural Juliet candidate.

"Everyone aspired to resemble Audrey Hepburn," she subsequently informed her biographer, "however I lacked conventional beauty and attracted no admirers."

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

But she started picking up minor parts in theatrical productions, and, during preparations for a role at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing, she encountered Andrew Sachs, who would subsequently appear as Manuel the Spanish server, in Fawlty Towers.

Her initial television exposure occurred in the year 1952, as Lydia Bennet in a television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which featured Peter Cushing - better known for his roles in horror movies - as Mr. Darcy.

And her first big screen roles came a year later - in romantic comedy, 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 maintained constant employment - appearing on stage, film and television, including a short appearance as a bus conductor, Eileen Hughes, in the popular soap Coronation Street.

She also met fellow actor 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 big TV break arrived through Marriage Lines, a BBC sitcom about a newly married couple, George and Kate Starling.

Scales performed alongside 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 spouse at the time, Connie Booth, had presented the initial screenplay of their comedy creation to the BBC.

Actress 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, 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 initial season, which debuted in 1975, didn't immediately attract massive viewership but, with subsequent episodes, its comedic combination of absurd pratfalls and awkward circumstances increased in appeal.

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

Initially, the creators had doubts regarding this approach.

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

In subsequent years, she was, all too often, called upon to play stern matriarchs when she hankered after elegant characters.

However when questioned 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 the paying public into performance venues.

"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 continued to work in television, including an engagement as character 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 the series Ladies of Letters, with Patricia Routledge, which evolved into a staple of the program Woman's Hour.

Scales performed 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 presented four hundred times.

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

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

In 1995, she began starring as character 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 biggest factor in establishing its dominant market position in the mid 1990s.

Scales later came in for moderate critique for participating in the commercial campaign, when she supported an initiative to stop local shops closing 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 the mother of Alan Turing, who represents a culture that treated homosexual acts as a crime, an attitude that eventually led to his death.

Beyond performance, {Scales was