Prunella Scales
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.
Also Known As
Movie Appearances
Wolf
as Maude Waggins
1994
The Shell Seekers
as Dolly Keeling
2007
Emma
as Miss Bates
1996
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
as Moira O'Neill
1987
Waltz of the Toreadors
as Estella Fitzjohn
1962
Hobson's Choice
as Vicky Hobson
1954
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
as Lady Moping
2006
Breaking the Code
as Sara Turing
1996
A Question of Attribution
as H.M.Q.
1991
Stiff Upper Lips
as Aunt Agnes
1998
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
as Queen (voice)
1992
A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg
as Grace
2002
A Chorus of Disapproval
as Hannah Ap Llewellyn
1989
Consuming Passions
as Ethel
1988
What the Butler Saw
as Mrs Prentice
1987
The Phone Call
as Joan
2013
Fawlty Towers Revisited
as Herself
2005
An Ideal Husband
as Lady Markby
1999
Second Best
as Margery
1994
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
as Self
2014
TV Appearances
Midsomer Murders
as Eleanor Bunsall
1997
Bergerac
as Gloria Gibbins
1981
Fawlty Towers
as Sybil Fawlty
1975
Dalziel & Pascoe
1996
Great Canal Journeys
as Self
2014
Keeping Mum
as Marjorie
1997
The Royal
as Red Admiral
2003
Thompson
1988
Lucky Feller
1976
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
as Mrs. Duffel
1996
An Audience with...
as Self
1978
Casualty
as Jocelyn Anderson
1986