Prunella Scales
Acting • Born 1932-06-22 – Died 2025-10-27
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
97 credits
Wolf
Movie • 1994
Maude Waggins
The Shell Seekers
Movie • 2007
Dolly Keeling
Emma
Movie • 1996
Miss Bates
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
Movie • 1987
Moira O'Neill
Waltz of the Toreadors
Movie • 1962
Estella Fitzjohn
Hobson's Choice
Movie • 1954
Vicky Hobson
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
Movie • 2006
Lady Moping
Breaking the Code
Movie • 1996
Sara Turing
A Question of Attribution
Movie • 1991
H.M.Q.
Stiff Upper Lips
Movie • 1998
Aunt Agnes
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
Movie • 1992
Queen (voice)
A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg
Movie • 2002
Grace
A Chorus of Disapproval
Movie • 1989
Hannah Ap Llewellyn
Consuming Passions
Movie • 1988
Ethel
What the Butler Saw
Movie • 1987
Mrs Prentice
The Phone Call
Movie • 2013
Joan
Fawlty Towers Revisited
Movie • 2005
Herself
An Ideal Husband
Movie • 1999
Lady Markby
Second Best
Movie • 1994
Margery
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
Movie • 2014
Self
Dirty Beasts
Movie • 1990
Narrator
Revolting Rhymes
Movie • 1990
Narrator
The Wicked Lady
Movie • 1983
Lady Kingsclere
Run For Your Wife
Movie • 2012
Woman in Pub
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
Movie • 2009
Self / Sybil Fawlty
The Littlest Horse Thieves
Movie • 1976
Mrs. Sandman
An Audience with Alf Garnett
Movie • 1997
Room at the Top
Movie • 1958
Council Office Worker (uncredited)
The Ghost of Greville Lodge
Movie • 2000
Sarah
Beyond The Pale
Movie • 1989
Milly
Doris and Doreen
Movie • 1978
Doris Rutter
The Apple Cart
Movie • 1975
Queen Jemima
What Every Woman Wants
Movie • 1954
Mary
An Awfully Big Adventure
Movie • 1995
Rose
Station Jim
Movie • 2001
Queen Victoria
What the Pythons Did Next...
Movie • 2007
Self
Lord of Misrule
Movie • 1996
Shirley
Natural Causes
Movie • 1988
Celia Bryce
Fair Game
Movie • 1994
Marjorie
Howards End
Movie • 1992
Aunt Juley
Outside Edge
Movie • 1982
Miriam
Horrid Henry: The Movie
Movie • 2011
Great Aunt Greta
The Boys from Brazil
Movie • 1978
Mrs. Harrington
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Movie • 1978
Glynis
Mad Cows
Movie • 1999
Dr. Minny Stinkler
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Movie • 1982
Mistress Page
Laxdale Hall
Movie • 1953
Morag McLeod
My Friend Walter
Movie • 1992
Aunt Ellie
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
Movie • 1990
Fleecy Flock
Home Cooking
Movie • 1986
Judith
Sub Rosa
Movie • 2014
Madame
When We Are Married
Movie • 1987
Annie Parker
Absurd Person Singular
Movie • 1985
Marion Brewster-Wright
Slimming Down
Movie • 1984
Mrs. Shrigley
The Achurch Letters
Movie • 1977
Florence Farr
Bosses From Hell
Movie • 1989
Communicators From Hell
Movie • 1989
The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
Movie • 2025
The Crowded Day
Movie • 1954
Customer
Singles
Movie • 1983
Gail
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Movie • 1994
Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
Think
Movie • 2007
Customer
The Ring of Truth
Movie • 1973
Babs Pickard
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
Movie • 2005
Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
Midsomer Murders
TV • 1997
Eleanor Bunsall
Bergerac
TV • 1981
Gloria Gibbins
Fawlty Towers
TV • 1975
Sybil Fawlty
Marriage Lines
TV • 1961
Dalziel & Pascoe
TV • 1996
Great Canal Journeys
TV • 2014
Self
Keeping Mum
TV • 1997
Marjorie
Unnatural Causes
TV • 1986
Judith
The Royal
TV • 2003
Red Admiral
Thompson
TV • 1988
Lucky Feller
TV • 1976
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
TV • 1996
Mrs. Duffel
An Audience with...
TV • 1978
Self
Casualty
TV • 1986
Jocelyn Anderson
The World of Lee Evans
TV • 1995
Mother
The Rector's Wife
TV • 1994
Marjorie Richardson
Signs and Wonders
TV • 1995
Elizabeth Palmore
Silent Witness
TV • 1996
Anne Parker
Loose Women
TV • 1999
Self
Pride and Prejudice
TV • 1952
Lydia Bennet
Thirty-Minute Theatre
TV • 1965
Marie
Agatha Christie's Marple
TV • 2004
Mrs Mackenzie
Theatre Night
TV • 1985
Mrs. Prentice
Never the Twain
TV • 1981
Susan Peel
Playhouse
TV • 1974
Florence Farr
BBC Play of the Month
TV • 1965
Queen Jemima
Target
TV • 1977
Diana Blake
Dickens
TV • 2002
Elizabeth Dickens
After Henry
TV • 1988
Sarah France
Look at the State We're In!
TV • 1995
Storyteller
Seven of One
TV • 1973
Marion Joyce
Faces of Jim
TV • 1961
Laura Morrell
Mapp & Lucia
TV • 1985
Miss Elizabeth Mapp