XPost: rec.arts.tv   
   From: YourName@YourISP.com   
      
       Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales dies aged 93   
       -----------------------------------------------   
       Fawlty Towers actress Prunella Scales has died aged 93, her family   
       have confirmed.   
      
       Scales was best known for playing hotel manager Sybil Fawlty, the   
       long-suffering and domineering wife of Basil - played by John   
       Cleese - in the classic British sitcom.   
      
       The actress died "peacefully at home in London yesterday", her   
       sons Samuel and Joseph said.   
      
       They added that she was watching Fawlty Towers the day before she   
       died. Cleese paid tribute, describing Scales as "a really wonderful   
       comic actress". He said: "Scene after scene she was absolutely   
       perfect."   
      
       The actress had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.   
      
       "Our darling mother Prunella Scales died peacefully at home in   
       London yesterday. She was 93," her sons told the PA News agency.   
      
       "Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting   
       career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home."   
      
       Her husband, fellow actor Timothy West, died in November last year.   
      
       She is survived by two sons and one stepdaughter, seven   
       grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.   
      
       The statement added: "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."   
      
       BBC One is airing an episode of Fawlty Towers on Tuesday evening in   
       tribute.   
      
       The episode, called The Builders, is episode two from the first   
       series and originally aired in September 1975. Basil and Sybil   
       decide to have some structural alterations done to the hotel whilst   
       they are away for the weekend.   
      
       West End theatres in London will dim their lights for two minutes   
       at 7pm on Thursday in remembrance of Scales.   
      
       Hannah Essex, co-chief executive of the Society of London Theatre,   
       described Scales as "an artist of precision, wit and generosity" who   
       had made "an indelible mark".   
      
      
   Long article continues at    
      
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