Prunella Scales
Known for department: Acting
Birthday: 1932-06-22 – 2025-10-27
Place of birth: Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK
Biography
Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales CBE (née Illingworth; 22 June 1932) was an English former actor, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy Fawlty Towers; for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in A Question of Attribution (Screen One, BBC 1991) by Alan Bennett (for which she was nominated for a BAFTA award); and for the documentary series Great Canal Journeys (2014–2021), in which she travels on canal barges and narrowboats with her husband, fellow actor Timothy West.
Known for
Wolf
1994Maude Waggins
The Shell Seekers
2007Dolly Keeling
Emma
1996Miss Bates
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
1987Moira O'Neill
Waltz of the Toreadors
1962Estella Fitzjohn
Hobson's Choice
1954Vicky Hobson
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
2006Lady Moping
Breaking the Code
1996Sara Turing
A Question of Attribution
1991H.M.Q.
Stiff Upper Lips
1998Aunt Agnes
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992Queen (voice)A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg
2002Grace
A Chorus of Disapproval
1989Hannah Ap Llewellyn
Consuming Passions
1988Ethel
What the Butler Saw
1987Mrs Prentice
The Phone Call
2013Joan
Fawlty Towers Revisited
2005Herself
An Ideal Husband
1999Lady Markby
Second Best
1994Margery