Prunella Scales
Known for 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.
Filmography
Emma
1996
as Miss Bates
The Boys from Brazil
1978
as Mrs. Harrington
Wolf
1994
as Maude Waggins
Howards End
1992
as Aunt Juley
Room at the Top
1958
as Council Office Worker (uncredited)
Bosses From Hell
1989
Fair Game
1994
as Marjorie
Consuming Passions
1988
as Ethel
Horrid Henry: The Movie
2011
as Great Aunt Greta
The Shell Seekers
2007
as Dolly Keeling
When We Are Married
1987
as Annie Parker
An Awfully Big Adventure
1995
as Rose
An Ideal Husband
1999
as Lady Markby
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
2005
as Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
Run For Your Wife
2012
as Woman in Pub
The Wicked Lady
1983
as Lady Kingsclere
Second Best
1994
as Margery
The Apple Cart
1975
as Queen Jemima
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
1987
as Moira O'Neill
Mad Cows
1999
as Dr. Minny Stinkler