Actress Prunella Scales, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, dies aged 93

Prunella Scales, the English actor famed for playing Sybil Fawlty in the beloved British comedy sitcom Fawlty Towers, has died at 93.

Scales, who was married to fellow actor Timothy West, passed away “peacefully at home in London yesterday,” her sons Samuel and Joseph said in a statement.

The actor was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2013.

“Our darling mother Prunella Scales died peacefully at home in London yesterday. She was 93,” her sons said.

“Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home.”

They added that she was watching the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers the day before she died.

Scales was married to West for 61 years. He died in November 2024.

“She is survived by two sons and one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

“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,” her sons added.

Prunella Scales: Queen of the British sitcom

Scales was born on 22 June 1932 in Surrey. Her father, John, was a cotton salesman who served in the First World War, and her mother, Catherine, was an actress who attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Scales began her career in 1951 as an assistant stage manager at the British theatre company the Bristol Old Vic, but always had a desire to be an actress.

She succeeded in being cast in a number of films, including a now-lost screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice from 1952.

Her career break came with the early 1960s TV sitcom Marriage Lines, in which she starred alongside Richard Briers.

Scales was best known for her appearances in the comedy series Fawlty Towers between 1975 and 1979. She portrayed Sybil Fawlty, the bossy wife of the hotelier Basil Fawlty, who was played by John Cleese.

She became an icon of British television for her domineering character with piled-up hairdos and a sharp tongue.

In 1991, Scales earned a BAFTA nomination for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett’s A Question of Attribution. She also won two Laurence Olivier Award nominations, for Make and Break (1980) and Single Spies (1990).

Between 2014 to 2019, Scales and husband West charmed TV audiences with their Channel 4 series Great Canal Journeys.

The programme followed the couple’s journey navigating a canal boat around the waterways of the UK and Europe. West revealed in the final series that Scales’ condition had worsened and she was losing her hearing.