Prunella Scales, Hilarious Matriarch of TV's Fawlty Towers, Dies at 93

Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales has died at the age of 93, following a decade-long battle with dementia. Scales’s death comes just shy of a year following the passing of her husband of 61 years, actor Timothy West.

Scales was best known for playing the tough-as-nails Sybil Fawlty on Fawlty Towers, opposite John Cleese, Connie Booth, and Andrew Sachs. Scales brought a signature bellow of a laugh to the role, and while the show only had 12 episodes, it is widely regarded as one of the best British sitcoms in history.

Born in Surrey in 1932, Scales began her career as an assistant stage manager at the Bristol Old Vic, having studied at the organization’s drama school. She was twice-nominated for Olivier Awards, for Make and Break and Single Spies. On Broadway, she originated the role of Ermengarde in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, the play on which the musical Hello, Dolly! is based.

Scales met West while filming the BBC television play She Died Young. They often worked opposite each other, on stage in Big in Brazil and Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and on the long-running documentary series Great Canal Journeys, in which she and West took narrowboat trips across the United Kingdom.

On stage, her many notable productions include A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, The Birthday Party, Just the Three of Us, An Evening With Queen Victoria, and Carrie’s War in the West End; The Editing Process and Some Singing Blood at the Royal Court; and School for Scandal at the National.

Scales is survived by sons Samuel and Joseph, one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.