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

Prunella Scales, who died at 93 years old, was regarded as one of Britain's finest comedic performers.

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

Sybil's primary objective in life to closely monitor 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 nightmarish laugh, extraordinary hairstyle and intense anger were components of a meticulously crafted persona that ranks as a humorous triumph.

Although many actors would have distanced themselves from too close an association with one particular character, Scales always expressed her pleasure in participating of the Fawlty Towers experience.

Early Life and Career Beginnings

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

It was a family profoundly passionate about theatrical arts - with her mother, Bim Scales, an ex-actress who'd given it all up for family life.

Intelligent and studious, after wartime evacuation to England's Lake District, Prunella attended Moira House educational institution in Eastbourne.

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

This decision angered of her previous school principal 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 was perceived as a junior character actor instead of an obvious Juliet.

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

The youthful Prunella also hid her middle-class roots, aware that directors were beginning to look for authentic working-class realism in their actors.

Nevertheless she began acquiring minor parts in theatrical productions, and, while rehearsing for a part at Worthing's Connaught Theatre, she met Andrew Sachs, who would subsequently appear as Manuel, the Spanish waiter, 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 - more famous for his horror film performances - as Mr Darcy.

And her first big screen roles came a year later - in lighthearted romance, the film Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's 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, featuring a brief stint as transport worker, Eileen Hughes, in Coronation Street.

She additionally encountered colleague Timothy West.

Following what she characterized as "a gentle courtship involving crosswords and candies", they became a couple, and married in 1963.

Career Milestones and Defining Characters

Her big TV break arrived through the series Marriage Lines, a comedy program about a newly married couple, George and Kate Starling.

Scales appeared opposite 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 submitted the first script of their comedy creation to the BBC.

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

She later remembered that Cleese was a hard taskmaster.

"John, quite rightly, was extremely rigorous about learning the script, and if you didn't, he could get quite cross, which was fair enough."

Merely twelve installments were ultimately produced.

The first series, which debuted in 1975, didn't immediately attract massive viewership but, as it continued, its comedic combination of absurd pratfalls 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, John Cleese and his wife had doubts regarding the treatment.

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

Later in her career, she frequently found herself, called upon to play stern matriarchs when she desired more glamorous roles.

But when asked about what she thought was the high point, Scales had no hesitation in picking Sybil Fawlty.

"It was a tough job," she maintained, "yet I remain proud of my work." She even thought it helped get audience members into performance venues.

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

Subsequent Work and Private World

Following Fawlty Towers, Scales continued to work in television, including an engagement as character Elizabeth Mapp in the series 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 became an intrinsic part of the program Woman's Hour.

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

She once received a letter from one of Queen Elizabeth's security men who admitted that when Scales came on stage, he stood up.

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

In 1995, she started appearing as character Dotty Turnbull in television commercials for supermarket giant Tesco - which compensated her partially with shopping credits.

The advertising series, which continued 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 commercial campaign, when she supported an initiative to stop local shops closing in her London community.

One of her finest performances appeared in Breaking the Code, the movie concerning World War II cryptanalysts.

She appears as Alan Turing's mother, who embodies a society that treated homosexual acts as a crime, a perspective that contributed to his tragic end.

Away from acting, {Scales was