Acting
Prunella Scales
Born June 22, 1932 Died October 27, 2025 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.
Filmography
—
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2025·Comedy
8.0
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
2014·Documentary
5.0
Sub Rosa
2014
7.3
The Phone Call
2013·Drama
4.4
Run For Your Wife
2012·Comedy
5.2
Horrid Henry: The Movie
2011·Family
8.4
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
2009·Documentary
6.9
The Shell Seekers
2007·Drama
—
What the Pythons Did Next...
2007
—
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
2006·Comedy
5.0
Fawlty Towers Revisited
2005·Documentary
7.0
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
2000·Mystery
4.4
Mad Cows
1999·Comedy
6.5
An Ideal Husband
1999·Comedy
5.6
Stiff Upper Lips
1998·Comedy
—
An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997·Comedy
6.6
Emma
1996·Comedy
5.5
Breaking the Code
1996·History
6.5
An Awfully Big Adventure
1995·Romance
6.8
Second Best
1994·Drama
6.1
Wolf
1994·Horror
4.8
Fair Game
1994·Drama
—
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
1994·Animation
5.3
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992·Animation