Prunella Scales

Actor

Born: June 22, 1932
Died: October 27, 2025 (age 93)
From: Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK

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…

Filmography (64)

The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers (2025)
50 Years of BBC Two Comedy (2014)
Self
Sub Rosa (2014)
Madame
The Phone Call (2013)
Joan
Run For Your Wife (2012)
Woman in Pub
Horrid Henry: The Movie (2011)
Great Aunt Greta
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened (2009)
Self / Sybil Fawlty
The Shell Seekers (2007)
Dolly Keeling
Think
Think (2007)
Customer
What the Pythons Did Next... (2007)
Self
Mr. Loveday's Little Outing (2006)
Lady Moping
Fawlty Towers Revisited (2005)
Herself
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy (2005)
Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg
A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg (2002)
Grace
Station Jim
Station Jim (2001)
Queen Victoria
The Ghost of Greville Lodge (2000)
Sarah
Mad Cows (1999)
Dr. Minny Stinkler
An Ideal Husband (1999)
Lady Markby
Stiff Upper Lips (1998)
Aunt Agnes
An Audience with Alf Garnett (1997)
Emma (1996)
Miss Bates
Breaking the Code (1996)
Sara Turing
Lord of Misrule
Lord of Misrule (1996)
Shirley
An Awfully Big Adventure (1995)
Rose
Second Best (1994)
Margery
Wolf (1994)
Maude Waggins
Fair Game (1994)
Marjorie
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher (1994)
Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
Freddie As F.R.O.7. (1992)
Queen (voice)
My Friend Walter (1992)
Aunt Ellie