Prunella Scales, best known to TV audiences for her turn as hotel manager Sybil Fawlty on the BBC classic “Fawlty Towers,” died Monday at the age of 93.
Though a specific cause of death has not been disclosed, Scales had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.
“Our darling mother Prunella Scales died peacefully at home in London yesterday,” her sons Samuel and Joseph said in a statement to the PA News agency. “Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home and was watching ‘Fawlty Towers’ the day before she died…. We would like to thank all those who gave Pru such wonderful care at the end of her life. Her last days were comfortable, contented and surrounded by love.”
Early career credits included the 1960s sitcom “The Marriage Lines” and the anthology series “Seven of One.” But Scales was most associated with her role as Sybil, the long-suffering wife of John Cleese’s Basil, on “Fawlty Towers,” which ran for two seasons (12 episodes) between 1975 and 1979. She later portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in the 1991 TV-movie “A Question of Attribution,” earning a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress.
Scales was married to actor Timothy West for 61 years, until his death last November. Together, they led the first 10 seasons of the Channel 4 docuseries “Great Canal Journeys” (2014–2019).
She is survived by her two sons, one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
