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.
Filmography
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2025
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
2014
as Self
Sub Rosa
2014
as Madame
The Phone Call
2013
as Joan
Run For Your Wife
2012
as Woman in Pub
Horrid Henry: The Movie
2011
as Great Aunt Greta
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
2009
as Self / Sybil Fawlty
The Shell Seekers
2007
as Dolly Keeling
- No poster
Think
2007
as Customer
What the Pythons Did Next...
2007
as Self
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
2006
as Lady Moping
Fawlty Towers Revisited
2005
as Herself
- No poster
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005
as Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
2002
as Grace
Station Jim
2001
as Queen Victoria
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
2000
as Sarah
Mad Cows
1999
as Dr. Minny Stinkler
An Ideal Husband
1999
as Lady Markby
Stiff Upper Lips
1998
as Aunt Agnes
An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997
Emma
1996
as Miss Bates
Breaking the Code
1996
as Sara Turing
- No poster
Lord of Misrule
1996
as Shirley
An Awfully Big Adventure
1995
as Rose