
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.
Acting (54 movies)

Wolf
1994

The Shell Seekers
2007

Emma
1996

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
1987

Waltz of the Toreadors
1962

Hobson's Choice
1954

Mr. Loveday's Little Outing
2006

Breaking the Code
1996

A Question of Attribution
1991

Stiff Upper Lips
1998

Freddie As F.R.O.7.
1992

A Chorus of Disapproval
1989

Consuming Passions
1988

What the Butler Saw
1987

The Phone Call
2013

Fawlty Towers Revisited
2005

An Ideal Husband
1999

Second Best
1994

50 Years of BBC Two Comedy
2014

Dirty Beasts
1990

Revolting Rhymes
1990

The Wicked Lady
1983

Run For Your Wife
2012

Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
2009

The Littlest Horse Thieves
1976

An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997

Room at the Top
1958

The Ghost of Greville Lodge
2000

Beyond The Pale
1989

Doris and Doreen
1978

What Every Woman Wants
1954

An Awfully Big Adventure
1995

What the Pythons Did Next...
2007

Natural Causes
1988

Fair Game
1994

Howards End
1992

Outside Edge
1982

Horrid Henry: The Movie
2011

The Boys from Brazil
1978

The Hound of the Baskervilles
1978

Mad Cows
1999

The Merry Wives of Windsor
1982

My Friend Walter
1992

The Tale of Little Pig Robinson
1990

Home Cooking
1986

Sub Rosa
2014

When We Are Married
1987

Absurd Person Singular
1985

Slimming Down
1984

The Achurch Letters
1977

Bosses From Hell
1989

Communicators From Hell
1989

The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2025

The Crowded Day
1954
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