The Legendary Prunella Scales: Beginning with Fawlty Towers to Remarkable Canal Adventures

Prunella Scales, who passed away at 93 years old, was considered among Britain's most brilliant comedic performers.

Despite an extensive and respected career on stage and screen, she will inevitably be remembered as Sybil Fawlty in the classic 1970s television series, Fawlty Towers.

It was Sybil's mission throughout her existence to keep tabs on her husband Basil described as a "stick insect" - portrayed by comedian John Cleese - between telephone chats fueled by cigarettes with her friend, Audrey.

It fell to her to placate guests who had been yelled at, totally ignored or, in some cases, throttled by Basil when during his particularly frenzied episodes.

Her nightmarish laugh, extraordinary hairstyle and ferocious temper were part of a meticulously crafted persona that stands as a comic masterpiece.

And while many actors would have removed themselves from excessive identification with a single role, Scales consistently voiced her delight in having been part of the Fawlty Towers experience.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

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

She belonged to a household deeply in love with the theatre - her mother being, Bim Scales, an ex-actress who'd abandoned her career for family life.

Bright and bookish, following evacuation during the war to England's Lake District, Prunella attended Moira House educational institution in the coastal town of Eastbourne.

In 1949, she earned a scholarship to the prestigious Old Vic drama school and - two years later - obtained a role as an assistant stage manager.

This was to the fury of her former headmistress in Eastbourne, 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 junior character actor rather than an obvious Juliet.

"We all wanted to look like Audrey Hepburn," she subsequently informed her chronicler, "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 authentic working-class realism in performers.

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 later star as Manuel the Spanish server, in Fawlty Towers.

Her initial television exposure occurred in the year 1952, as the character Lydia Bennet in a BBC production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which featured Peter Cushing - better known 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 production Hobson's Choice, alongside Charles Laughton.

Throughout the latter 1950s and early 1960s, she maintained constant employment - performing across multiple mediums, including a brief stint as transport worker, 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 became a couple, and wed in 1963.

Breakthrough and Iconic Roles

Her big TV break came with the series Marriage Lines, a BBC sitcom about a newly married couple, the Starling couple.

Scales performed alongside actor Richard Briers, at that time a major celebrity in TV humor. The show proved hugely popular and continued for five seasons.

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 their comedy creation to the BBC.

Performer Bridget Turner had been considered for Sybil Fawlty but she had turned it down 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."

Merely twelve installments were ultimately produced.

The initial season, which debuted 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 thought hard about how to play Sybil Fawlty, and determined that her character's upbringing had to be inferior to Basil's social standing.

At first, the creators were unsure about the treatment.

"Once they heard the first reading in rehearsal," recalled Scales, "they embraced the concept completely."

Later in her career, she frequently found herself, requested to portray "dragons" and "old bags" when she hankered after elegant characters.

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

"It was a tough job," she maintained, "but I'm still proud of it." She believed it assisted in bringing the paying public into theaters.

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

Subsequent Work and Private World

After Fawlty Towers, Scales maintained her career in the television industry, comprising a stint as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in ITV's Mapp and Lucia.

Her voice was also regularly heard on radio, notably the comedy program After Henry, which subsequently transferred to television, and the series Ladies of Letters, with Patricia Routledge, which became an intrinsic part of Woman's Hour.

Scales appeared in two significant royal characters; as Queen Elizabeth II in the BBC production of Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution, and as the monarch Queen Victoria in a solo performance that she performed 400 times.

She obtained correspondence from one of Queen Elizabeth's security men who admitted that when Scales came on stage, he stood up.

"It was a knee-jerk reaction," she explained. "I was thrilled."

During 1995, she began starring as Dotty Turnbull in a series of TV adverts for the retail chain Tesco - which paid her partly in vouchers.

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

Scales subsequently faced some gentle criticism for participating in the Tesco adverts, 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 World War II cryptanalysts.

She portrays Alan Turing's mother, who represents a culture that criminalized same-sex relationships, an attitude that eventually led to his death.

Beyond performance, {Scales was