LONDON (AP) — Actor Prunella Scales, greatest generally known as acid-tongued Sybil Fawlty within the basic British sitcom “Fawlty Towers,” has died, her kids mentioned Tuesday. She was 93 and had dementia.
Scales’ sons, Samuel and Joseph West, mentioned she died “peacefully at home in London” on Monday.
“Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home,” her sons mentioned. “She was watching ‘Fawlty Towers’ the day before she died.”
Scales’ profession included early movie roles in a 1952 model of “Pride and Prejudice” and the 1954 comedy “Hobson’s Choice,” adopted by her TV breakthrough within the Sixties sitcom “Marriage Lines.”
In “Fawlty Towers” she performed the exasperated spouse of hapless Basil Fawlty, performed by John Cleese, whose efforts to run a seaside lodge inevitably escalated into chaos. Solely 12 episodes had been made, in 1975 and 1979, however it’s often cited as one of many funniest sitcoms of all time.
Later roles included Queen Elizabeth II in “A Question of Attribution,” Alan Bennett’s stage and TV drama in regards to the queen’s artwork adviser, Anthony Blunt, who was additionally a Soviet spy. Scales performed one other British monarch within the one-woman stage present “An Evening with Queen Victoria.”
Scales was identified with vascular dementia in 2013. Between 2014 and 2019, she and her husband, actor Timothy West, explored waterways in Britain and overseas within the mild journey present “Great Canal Journeys.” This system was praised for the best way it truthfully depicted Scales’ dementia.
West died in November 2024. Scales is survived by her sons, stepdaughter Juliet West, seven grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.
