Portrait of Prunella Scales

Prunella Scales

Acting

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.

Born: June 22, 1932

Place of Birth: Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK

Filmography

2014
Sub Rosa

as Madame

2013
2012
Run For Your Wife

as Woman in Pub

2011
Horrid Henry: The Movie

as Great Aunt Greta

2009
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened

as Self / Sybil Fawlty

2007
The Shell Seekers

as Dolly Keeling

2006
2004
Agatha Christie's Marple

as Mrs Mackenzie

2003
The Royal

as Red Admiral

2002
Dickens

as Elizabeth Dickens

1999
Mad Cows

as Dr. Minny Stinkler

1999
1999
An Ideal Husband

as Lady Markby

1998
Stiff Upper Lips

as Aunt Agnes

1997
Keeping Mum

as Marjorie

1997
Midsomer Murders

as Eleanor Bunsall

1996
Emma

as Miss Bates

1996
Breaking the Code

as Sara Turing

1996
Silent Witness

as Anne Parker

1995
Signs and Wonders

as Elizabeth Palmore

1994
Second Best

as Margery

1994
Wolf

as Maude Waggins

1994
Fair Game

as Marjorie

1994
The Rector's Wife

as Marjorie Richardson

1992
Freddie As F.R.O.7.

as Queen (voice)

1992
My Friend Walter

as Aunt Ellie

1992
Howards End

as Aunt Juley

1990
Dirty Beasts

as Narrator

1990
Revolting Rhymes

as Narrator

1989
1989
A Chorus of Disapproval

as Hannah Ap Llewellyn

1988
Natural Causes

as Celia Bryce

1988
1988
After Henry

as Sarah France

1987
When We Are Married

as Annie Parker

1987
What the Butler Saw

as Mrs Prentice

1986
Home Cooking

as Judith

1986
Casualty

as Jocelyn Anderson

1985
Absurd Person Singular

as Marion Brewster-Wright

1984
Slimming Down

as Mrs. Shrigley

1983
The Wicked Lady

as Lady Kingsclere

1982
1982
Outside Edge

as Miriam

1981
Bergerac

as Gloria Gibbins

1981
Never the Twain

as Susan Peel

1978
Doris and Doreen

as Doris Rutter

1978
The Boys from Brazil

as Mrs. Harrington

1977
Target

as Diana Blake

1977
The Achurch Letters

as Florence Farr

1976
1975
Fawlty Towers

as Sybil Fawlty

1974
Playhouse

as Florence Farr

1965
BBC Play of the Month

as Queen Jemima

1962
Waltz of the Toreadors

as Estella Fitzjohn

1958
Room at the Top

as Council Office Worker (uncredited)

1954
The Crowded Day

as Customer

1954
Hobson's Choice

as Vicky Hobson

1952
Pride and Prejudice

as Lydia Bennet