From: mongo@biteme.com   
      
   https://variety.com/2025/tv/global/prunella-scales-dead-fawlty-towers-   
   sybil-1236563223/   
      
   Prunella Scales, ‘Fawlty Towers’ Star, Dies at 93   
      
   Prunella Scales, the actress best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, the   
   intimidating hotel manager wife of John Cleese‘s Basil on the iconic ’70s   
   British sitcom “Fawlty Towers,” died on Monday. She was 93.   
      
   Her sons, Samuel and Joseph West, confirmed her death to news agency PA   
   Media on Tuesday, saying Scales died “peacefully at home in London   
   yesterday.” She was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.   
      
   “Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career   
   of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home. She was watching   
   ‘Fawlty Towers’ the day before she died,” the statement continued. “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.”   
      
   Beyond her performance in “Fawlty Towers,” which ran on BBC Two from 1975   
   to 1979, Scales earned a BAFTA nomination for her portrayal of Queen   
   Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett’s 1991 televised play “A Question of   
   Attribution.” From 2014 to 2020, she co-hosted the docuseries “Great Canal   
   Journeys” alongside her husband, the late actor Timothy West, in which   
   they explored Britain’s waterways.   
      
   In a statement to BBC News, Cleese remembered his “Fawlty Towers” co-star:   
   “How very sad. Pru was a really wonderful comic actress. I’ve recently   
   been watching a number of clips of ‘Fawlty Towers’ whilst researching a   
   book. Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect. She was a very sweet   
   lady, who spent a lot of her life apologizing. I used to tease her about   
   it. I was very, very fond of her.”   
      
   Scales began her career in 1951 as an assistant stage manager at the   
   Bristol Old Vic and began acting in plays and small films in the ’50s and   
   early ’60s. She earned her first big break starring in the sitcom   
   “Marriage Lines” alongside Richard Briers from 1963 to 1966, and then rose   
   to prominence when she was cast as Sybil Fawlty in “Fawlty Towers” in the   
   mid ’70s. Her other credits include the series “Mapp & Lucia” from   
   1985-1986, and films including “The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne”   
   (1987), “Howards End” (1992), “Wolf” (1994) and “An Awfully Big   
   Adventure”   
   (1995).   
      
   In addition to her sons, Scales is survived by one stepdaughter, seven   
   grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by West,   
   her husband of 61 years, who died in November 2024.   
      
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