Prunella Scales: Beginning with Fawlty Towers to Great Canal Journeys

Prunella Scales, who died at 93 years old, was regarded as among Britain's most brilliant comedic performers.

Although a long and distinguished career on stage and screen, she will inevitably be remembered as the unforgettable Sybil Fawlty in the 1970s TV comedy, the beloved Fawlty Towers.

Sybil's primary objective in life to keep tabs on her husband Basil described as a "stick insect" - portrayed by John Cleese - between telephone chats fueled by cigarettes with her friend, Audrey.

She was tasked to placate guests who had been yelled at, completely overlooked or, occasionally, physically confronted by Basil when during his particularly frenzied episodes.

Her nightmarish laugh, gravity-defying hairdo and ferocious temper were part of a carefully constructed character that stands as a humorous triumph.

And while numerous performers would have removed themselves from too close an association with one particular character, Scales consistently voiced her delight in participating of the Fawlty Towers phenomenon.

Formative Years and Professional Start

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

It was a family deeply in love with the theatre - with her mother, Catherine Scales, a former actor who'd abandoned her career for marriage and children.

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

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

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

During her theatrical training, Scales had been thought of as a junior character actor instead of a natural Juliet candidate.

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

Young Prunella concealed her privileged background, aware that directors were beginning to look for a new kind of earthy credibility in their actors.

But she started picking up small roles 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.

There was an early television appearance in the year 1952, as the character Lydia Bennet in a BBC production 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 lighthearted romance, the film Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's Hobson's Choice, opposite Charles Laughton.

Throughout the latter 1950s and early 1960s, she maintained constant employment - performing across multiple mediums, featuring a brief stint as transport worker, Eileen Hughes, in Coronation Street.

She also met fellow actor Timothy West.

After what Prunella described as "a gentle courtship involving crosswords and candies", they became a couple, and married in 1963.

Breakthrough and Iconic Roles

Her major television opportunity came with the series Marriage Lines, a BBC sitcom about a newly married couple, George and Kate Starling.

Scales appeared opposite Richard Briers, at that time a major celebrity in TV humor. The program achieved great success and continued for five seasons.

Subsequently arrived the legendary Fawlty Towers, which propelled her to iconic status.

John Cleese and his then wife, Connie Booth, had submitted the first script of Fawlty Towers to the BBC.

Performer Bridget Turner had been considered for Sybil Fawlty but she had turned it down and Scales tried out for the character.

She later remembered that Cleese was a hard taskmaster.

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

Only 12 episodes were ever made.

The first series, which aired in 1975, didn't immediately attract massive viewership but, as it continued, its comedic combination of ridiculous physical comedy and embarrassing situations increased in appeal.

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

At first, the creators had doubts regarding the treatment.

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

Later in her career, she frequently found herself, called upon to play stern matriarchs when she desired elegant characters.

But when asked about what she thought was the high point, Scales immediately identified in picking Sybil Fawlty.

"The role presented challenges," she maintained, "yet I remain proud of my work." She even thought it helped get audience members 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 said.

Later Career and Personal Life

Following Fawlty Towers, Scales maintained her career in television, including an engagement as character Elizabeth Mapp in the series Mapp and Lucia.

Her voice was also regularly heard on radio, notably the BBC Radio 4 sitcom, 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 in the television drama of Alan Bennett's work, 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 appeared, he stood up.

"The response was automatic," she clarified. "The experience delighted me."

In 1995, she started appearing as character Dotty Turnbull in television commercials for the retail chain Tesco - which paid her partly in vouchers.

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

Scales subsequently faced some gentle criticism for taking part in the Tesco adverts, when she supported an initiative to prevent neighborhood store closures in her London community.

Among her most accomplished roles appeared in the production Breaking the Code, the movie concerning World War II cryptanalysts.

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

Beyond performance, {Scales was