Prunella Scales
ActingPrunella 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.
Known For
Filmography — Acting
Wolf
Maude Waggins
Emma
Miss Bates
Howards End
Aunt Juley
The Boys from Brazil
Mrs. Harrington
Sub Rosa
Madame
Horrid Henry: The Movie
Great Aunt Greta
Laxdale Hall
Morag McLeod
Hobson's Choice
Vicky Hobson
Room at the Top
Council Office Worker (uncredited)
Mad Cows
Dr. Minny Stinkler
An Awfully Big Adventure
Rose
Breaking the Code
Sara Turing
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
Moira O'Neill
The Crowded Day
Customer
Second Best
Margery
Run For Your Wife
Woman in Pub
The Wicked Lady
Lady Kingsclere
The Phone Call
Joan
A Question of Attribution
H.M.Q.
Station Jim
Queen Victoria
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Mistress Page
The Shell Seekers
Dolly Keeling
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Glynis
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
Fleecy Flock
Lord of Misrule
Shirley
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
What Every Woman Wants
Mary
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
Queen (voice)
Fair Game
Marjorie
Waltz of the Toreadors
Estella Fitzjohn
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
Self / Sybil Fawlty
Stiff Upper Lips
Aunt Agnes
Consuming Passions
Ethel
When We Are Married
Annie Parker
Bosses From Hell
The Littlest Horse Thieves
Mrs. Sandman
A Chorus of Disapproval
Hannah Ap Llewellyn
Beyond The Pale
Milly
Fawlty Towers Revisited
Herself
A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg
Grace
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
Self
Absurd Person Singular
Marion Brewster-Wright
Home Cooking
Judith
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
Lady Moping
My Friend Walter
Aunt Ellie
An Ideal Husband
Lady Markby
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
What the Butler Saw
Mrs Prentice
Outside Edge
Miriam
What the Pythons Did Next...
Self
The Apple Cart
Queen Jemima
Communicators From Hell
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
Sarah
Doris and Doreen
Doris Rutter
The Achurch Letters
Florence Farr
Revolting Rhymes
Narrator
Natural Causes
Celia Bryce
Singles
Gail
Slimming Down
Mrs. Shrigley
Dirty Beasts
Narrator
Think
Customer
The Ring of Truth
Babs Pickard
