Prunella Scales
ActingBorn
June 22, 1932
Died
October 27, 2025
Place of Birth
Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK
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 Grea…
Known For
Filmography
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2025
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
2014
Sub Rosa
2014
The Phone Call
2013
Run For Your Wife
2012
Horrid Henry: The Movie
2011
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
2009
The Shell Seekers
2007
Think
2007
What the Pythons Did Next...
2007
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
2006
Fawlty Towers Revisited
2005
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005
A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg
2002
Station Jim
2001
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
2000
Mad Cows
1999
An Ideal Husband
1999
Stiff Upper Lips
1998
An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997
Emma
1996
Breaking the Code
1996
Lord of Misrule
1996
An Awfully Big Adventure
1995
Second Best
1994
Wolf
1994
Fair Game
1994
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
1994
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992
My Friend Walter
1992
Howards End
1992
A Question of Attribution
1991
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
1990
Dirty Beasts
1990
Revolting Rhymes
1990
Beyond The Pale
1989
A Chorus of Disapproval
1989
Bosses From Hell
1989
Communicators From Hell
1989
Natural Causes
1988
Consuming Passions
1988
When We Are Married
1987
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
1987
What the Butler Saw
1987
Home Cooking
1986
Absurd Person Singular
1985
Slimming Down
1984
The Wicked Lady
1983
Singles
1983
The Merry Wives of Windsor
1982
Outside Edge
1982
Doris and Doreen
1978
The Boys from Brazil
1978
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1978
The Achurch Letters
1977
The Littlest Horse Thieves
1976
The Apple Cart
1975
The Ring of Truth
1973
Waltz of the Toreadors
1962
Room at the Top
1958
The Crowded Day
1954
What Every Woman Wants
1954
Hobson's Choice
1954
Laxdale Hall
1953
Great Canal Journeys
2014
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004
The Royal
2003
Dickens
2002
Loose Women
1999
Keeping Mum
1997
Midsomer Murders
1997
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
1996
Dalziel and Pascoe
1996
Silent Witness
1996
The World of Lee Evans
1995
Look at the State We're In!
1995
Signs and Wonders
1995
The Rector's Wife
1994
Thompson
1988
After Henry
1988
Unnatural Causes
1986
Casualty
1986
ScreenPlay
1986
Theatre Night
1985
Mapp & Lucia
1985
Bergerac
1981
Never the Twain
1981
An Audience with...
1978
Target
1977
Lucky Feller
1976
Fawlty Towers
1975
Playhouse
1974
Seven of One
1973
Country Matters
1972
BBC Play of the Month
1965
Thirty-Minute Theatre
1965
Faces of Jim
1961
Marriage Lines
1961
Pride and Prejudice
1952