Prunella Scales

Prunella Margaret Rumney West (Template:Nee; 22 June 1932 – 27 October 2025), known professionally as Prunella Scales, was an English actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Sybil Fawlty in the BBC television sitcom Fawlty Towers (1975–1979) and her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution (1991), which earned her a BAFTA nomination. She later appeared in the TV documentary series Great Canal Journeys (2014–2019), travelling waterways in the UK and abroad with her husband, the actor Timothy West.

Early life and education

Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth was born on 22 June 1932 in Sutton Abinger, Surrey,<ref name=nytobit>Template:Cite web</ref> the daughter of John Richardson Illingworth, a cotton salesman at Tootal who served as a lieutenant with the Wiltshire Regiment in the First World War,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and with the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in the Second World War,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>Pru and Me- The Amazing Marriage of Prunella Scales and Timothy West, Timothy West, Penguin Books, 2023, ch. 1.</ref> and Catherine, née Scales, known as "Bim", an actress who had for a time attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and was later with the Liverpool Playhouse's Repertory Company.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name =west1> West, Timothy. Pru and Me - The Amazing Marriage of Prunella Scales and Timothy West. Penguin Books, 2023, ch. 1</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Illingworth had a younger brother, Timothy "Timmo" Illingworth (1934–2017), who became a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Irish Rangers and was appointed an OBE in the 1984 New Year Honours.<ref name =west1/><ref>Great Canal Journeys, series 8, episode Marne–Rhine Canal, timestamp approx 46:45</ref>

In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Illingworth's family moved to Bucks Mills near Bideford in Devon. In 1942, Illingworth was awarded a scholarship to Moira House School, which had been evacuated from Eastbourne to a hotel on Windermere in the Lake District; her mother and brother accompanied her. She carried on her schooling when Moira House School returned to Eastbourne.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Illingworth did well at school and was encouraged to apply to OxbridgeTemplate:R but had become interested in acting as she was able to play people "much more interesting than I am, who say things infinitely more intelligent than anything I can think of myself".<ref name=WP>Template:Cite news</ref> She was awarded a scholarship for the two-year course at the Old Vic Theatre School in 1949.<ref name=Ransomp43>Template:Cite book</ref> She then started using her mother's maiden name, Scales, as a stage name.Template:R

Career

Early work and career break

Scales started her career in 1951 as an assistant stage manager at the Bristol Old Vic, but stated that she had always wanted to be an actress.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Throughout her career, she was often cast in comic roles. Her early work included the (believed now to be lost) second UK adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (1952),<ref name=":1" /> Laxdale Hall (1953),<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> Hobson's Choice (1954),<ref name=":2" /> The Matchmaker in the West End and on Broadway (1954-55),<ref name=":6">Template:Cite news</ref> Room at the Top (1958)<ref name=":4">Template:Cite news</ref> and Waltz of the Toreadors (1962).<ref name=":4" />

Her career break came with the early 1960s sitcom Marriage Lines starring opposite Richard Briers.<ref name=":2" /> She played her most famous role, Sybil Fawlty in the sitcom Fawlty Towers, over two series in 1975 and 1979.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite news</ref> In addition to this, she had roles in BBC Radio 4 sitcoms and comedy series including After Henry,<ref name=":2" /> Smelling of Roses and Ladies of Letters;<ref name=":2" /> on television she starred in the London Weekend Television/Channel 4 series Mapp & Lucia based on the novels by E. F. Benson.<ref name=":4" />

In 1973, Scales was cast with Ronnie Barker in One Man's Meat which formed part of Barker's Seven of One series, also for the BBC. Her later film appearances include Escape from the Dark (1976),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978),<ref name=":4" /> The Boys From Brazil (1978),<ref name=":4" /> The Wicked Lady (1983), The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987),<ref name=":0" /> Consuming Passions (1988),<ref name=":0" /> A Chorus of Disapproval (1989),<ref name=":6" /> Howards End (1992),<ref name=":4" /> Wolf (1994),<ref name=":4" /> An Awfully Big Adventure (1995)<ref name=":6" /> and Stiff Upper Lips (1997).<ref name=":6" /> For the BBC Television Shakespeare production of The Merry Wives of Windsor (1982) she played Mistress Page<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in the Theatre Night series (BBC) she appeared with her husband Timothy West in the Joe Orton farce What the Butler Saw (1987) playing Mrs Prentice.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

1990s and onwards

In the early 1990s, Scales returned to the world of Mapp & Lucia, recording an unabridged audiobook adaptation of Miss Mapp (1990), Mapp And Lucia (1990) and Lucia's Progress (1992) for ISIS Audio Books, winning an AudioFile Earphones Award for the latter recording.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They were later re-released in 2024.

In 1992, Scales appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, a programme where guests are asked to decide which one book, luxury item, and eight audio recordings they would want with them should they be stranded on a deserted island.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> Her chosen books were the Complete Works of Shakespeare in German, the Bible in Russian and a Russian dictionary; her luxury item was "a huge tapestry kit".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

For 10 years,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:VoidTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Scales appeared as "Dotty" Turnbull, together with Jane Horrocks as her character's daughter, Kate Neall, in advertisements for UK supermarket chain Tesco.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She played Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution (1991).<ref name="bbcamerica.com">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1996, Scales starred in the television film Lord of Misrule, alongside Richard Wilson, Emily Mortimer and Stephen Moyer. The film was directed by Guy Jenkins and filming took place in Fowey in Cornwall. The same year, she appeared as Miss Bates in Emma, a TV-movie adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. In 1997, Scales starred in Chris Barfoot's science-fiction film short Phoenix which was first aired in 1999 by NBCUniversal's Sci-Fi Channel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Scales played The Client, an evil government minister funding inter-genetic time travel experiments. The same year, she played Minny Stinkler in the comedy film Mad Cows, directed by Sara Sugarman.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1994, Scales voiced Mrs Tiggy-Winkle in The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2000, Scales appeared in the film The Ghost of Greville Lodge.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The same year, she appeared as Eleanor Bunsall in Midsomer MurdersTemplate:' "Beyond the Grave". In 2001, she appeared in two episodes of Silent WitnessTemplate:' "Faith" as Mrs Parker. In 2003, she appeared as Hilda, "she who must be obeyed", wife of Horace Rumpole, in four BBC Radio 4 plays, with Timothy West playing her fictional husband. Scales and West toured Australia at the same time in different productions. Scales appeared in a one-woman show called An Evening with Queen Victoria, which also featured the tenor Ian Partridge singing songs written by Prince Albert. Scales performed An Evening with Queen Victoria more than 400 times, in theatres around the world, over the course of 30 years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Scales voiced the speaking ("cawing") role of Magpie, the eponymous thief in a 2003 recording of Gioachino Rossini's opera La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie).<ref name=":3" /> In 2003, she played Elizabeth II in the film Johnny English.

In 2006, Scales appeared in the television adaptation of The Shell Seekers, alongside Vanessa Redgrave and Maximilian Schell.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref>

Later years

On 16 November 2007, Scales appeared in Children in Need, reprising her role as Sybil Fawlty, the new manager who wants to take over Hotel Babylon.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> John Cleese said in an interview that the role of Sybil Fawlty was originally offered to Bridget Turner, who turned down the part.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Scales appeared in the audio play The Youth of Old Age, produced in 2008 by the Wireless Theatre Company, and available to download free of charge on their website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2008, she appeared in Agatha Christie's Miss Marple "A Pocket Full of Rye".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Scales appeared in a production of Carrie's War, the Nina Bawden novel, at the West End Apollo Theatre in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The run was successful despite middling reviews. However, Ben Bradley, writing for The New York Times Arts & Beats, stated that Scales was the most memorable thing about the show, "[playing] a rich, Miss Havisham-like eccentric, who trails through her house in evening gowns".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Scales starred in the 2011 British live-action 3D family comedy film Horrid Henry: The Movie as the titular character's Great Aunt Greta.<ref name="bbcamerica.com"/> She appeared in a short audio story, Dandruff Hits the Turtleneck, written by John Mayfield, and available for download.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Scales starred in a short film called "Stranger Danger" alongside Roderick Cowie in 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013 she made a guest appearance in the popular BBC radio comedy Cabin Pressure as Wendy Crieff, the mother of Captain Martin Crieff.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref>

Alongside her husband, Scales appeared in Great Canal Journeys for Channel 4 from 2014 for 10 series, before her deteriorating health brought her television career to an end. Stuart Heritage, writing for The Guardian in November 2016, commented that it "is ultimately a work about a devoted couple facing something huge together. It's a beautiful, meditative programme."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> "An emotional but unrooted glimpse of life with dementia" was Christopher Howse's characterization in October 2018, writing for The Telegraph.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Reviewing Scales's and West's last episode in October 2019 for The Guardian, Jack Seale wrote "Since the first instalment in 2014, the series has charted the long, slow goodbye that is living with dementia, cherishing every moment of precious normality and celebrating how an immersion in nature is the surest way to bring the old Pru back."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Scales was married to the actor Timothy West from 1963 until his death in 2024. Their marriage produced two sons; the elder is the actor and director Samuel West. Scales also had a step-daughter by West's first marriage.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> Scales and West shared a common hobby of narrowboating.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Her biography, Prunella, written by Teresa Ransom, was published by UK publishing imprint John Murray in 2005.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 2005, she named the P&O cruise ship Artemis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Scales was a patron of the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She and her husband were also patrons of BeyondAutism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From 1997 until 2002, she was president of CPRE, at that time known as the Council for the Protection of Rural England.<ref name="Ransom 2005 250">Template:Cite book</ref>

Illness and death

Scales's husband first noticed signs of her memory difficulties in 2001 while she was performing at the Greenwich Theatre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was eventually diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2015, West said in an interview: "The sad thing is that you just watch the gradual disappearance of the person that you knew and loved and were very close to."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The diagnosis did not prevent her from taking part in Great Canal Journeys, in which she and her husband spoke openly about her illness.<ref name=BBCDiamond>Template:Cite web</ref> Her declining health led the couple to leave the series in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Interviewed for the BBC in 2023, soon after celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary, West said, with reference to Scales's dementia: "Somehow we have coped with it and Pru doesn't really think about it."<ref name=BBCDiamond/>

Scales died on 27 October 2025, aged 93, at her home in London.<ref name=":0" /> Tributes followed from across the entertainment industry and beyond: John Cleese, who played her onscreen husband in Fawlty Towers, and on whose 86th birthday she died, praised her as "a really wonderful comic actress". According to her sons, she had been watching the sitcom the day before her death.<ref name=":5" /> BBC comedy director Jon Petrie called her "a national treasure". Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth remembered her as "a funny, intelligent, gifted human being", and the Alzheimer's Society commended her openness about living with dementia, describing her as "an inspiration".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 28 October 2025, the day Scales's death was publicly announced, BBC One rebroadcast the Fawlty Towers episode "The Builders"; the episode ended with a dedication to her memory.

Honours and nominations

Scales was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1992 Birthday Honours List.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1999, Scales was awarded the Freedom of the City of London and an honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) degree by the University of Bradford. The following year, she received a second honorary D.Litt. from the University of East Anglia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A rose-breeder created a rose, Prunella, in her honour.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Scales was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for A Question of Attribution (1991).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She also received two Laurence Olivier Award nominations, for Make and Break (1980)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Single Spies (1990).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1953	Laxdale Hall	Morag McLeod
1954	Hobson's Choice	Vicky Hobson
1954	What Every Woman Wants	Mary
1954	The Crowded Day	Customer
1958	Blind Spot	Petrol pump attendant
1958	Room at the Top	Council office worker	Uncredited
1962	Waltz of the Toreadors	Estella Fitzjohn
1976	The Littlest Horse Thieves	Mrs. Sandman
1978	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Glynis
1978	The Boys from Brazil	Mrs. Harrington
1983	The Wicked Lady	Lady Kingsclere
1987	The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne	Moira O'Neill
1988	Consuming Passions	Ethel
1989	A Chorus of Disapproval	Hannah Ap Llewelyn
1992	Howards End	Aunt Juley
1992	Freddie as F.R.O.7	Queen	Voice
1994	Wolf	Maude
1994	Second Best	Margery
1995	An Awfully Big Adventure	Rose
1997	Stiff Upper Lips	Aunt Agnes
1999	Mad Cows	Dr. Minnie Stinkler
1999	An Ideal Husband	Lady Markby
2000	The Ghost of Greville Lodge	Sarah
2003	Johnny English	The Queen	Uncredited
2011	Horrid Henry: The Movie	Great Aunt Greta
2012	Run for Your Wife	Woman at pub	Cameo

External links

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