Prunella Scales

Scales was born in Sutton Abinger, Surrey, the daughter of John Richardson Illingworth, a cotton salesman who served as a lieutenant with the Wiltshire Regiment in the First World War,^[5] and with the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in the Second World War,^[6][7] and Catherine, née Scales, known as "Bim", an actress who had for a time attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and was later with the Liverpool Playhouse's Repertory Company.^{[8][9][10][11]} Scales had a younger brother, Timothy "Timmo" Illingworth (1934–2017), who became a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Irish Rangers and was appointed an OBE.^[12][13] In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Scales's parents moved with their children to Bucks Mills near Bideford in Devon. In 1942, Scales was awarded a scholarship to Moira House School which had been evacuated from Eastbourne to a hotel on Lake Windermere in the Lake District Cumbria; her mother and brother accompanied her. Scales carried on her schooling when Moira House returned to Eastbourne.^[14] She was awarded a scholarship for the two year course at the Old Vic Theatre School in 1949; Moira House School had wished her to apply to Oxbridge.^[15]

Scales started her career in 1951 as an assistant stage manager at the Bristol Old Vic, but has stated that she has always wanted to be an actor.^[16] Throughout her career, she has often been cast in comic roles. Her early work included the (now believed to be lost) second UK adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (1952), Laxdale Hall (1953), Hobson's Choice (1954), The Matchmaker on Broadway (1955), Room at the Top (1959) and Waltz of the Toreadors (1962).

Her career break came with the early 1960s sitcom Marriage Lines starring opposite Richard Briers. She played her most famous role, Sybil Fawlty in the sitcom Fawlty Towers, over two series in 1975 and 1979. In addition to this, she has had roles in BBC Radio 4 sitcoms, and comedy series including After Henry, Smelling of Roses and Ladies of Letters; on television she starred in the London Weekend Television/Channel 4 series Mapp & Lucia based on the novels by E. F. Benson.

In 1973, Scales was cast with Ronnie Barker in One Man's Meat which formed part of Barker's Seven of One series, also for the BBC. Her later film appearances include Escape from the Dark (1976), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978), The Boys From Brazil (1978), The Wicked Lady (1983), The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987), Consuming Passions (1988), A Chorus of Disapproval (1989), Howards End (1992), Wolf (1994), An Awfully Big Adventure (1995) and Stiff Upper Lips (1997). For the BBC Television Shakespeare production of The Merry Wives of Windsor (1982) she played Mistress Page and in the Theatre Night series (BBC) she appeared with her husband Timothy West in the Joe Orton farce What the Butler Saw (1987) playing Mrs Prentice.

For 10 years,^[17] Scales appeared as "Dotty" Turnbull, together with Jane Horrocks as her character's daughter, Kate Neall, in advertisements for UK supermarket chain Tesco.^[18] She played Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution (1991).^[19]In 1996, Scales starred in the television film Lord of Misrule, alongside Richard Wilson, Emily Mortimer and Stephen Moyer. The film was directed by Guy Jenkins and filming took place in Fowey in Cornwall. The same year, she appeared as Miss Bates in Emma, a TV-movie adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. In 1997, Scales starred in Chris Barfoot's science-fiction film short Phoenix which was first aired in 1999 by NBCUniversal's Sci-Fi Channel.^[20] Scales played The Client, an evil government minister funding inter-genetic time travel experiments. The same year, she played Minny Stinkler in the comedy film Mad Cows, directed by Sara Sugarman. In 1993, Scales voiced Mrs Tiggy-Winkle in The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends.

In 2000, Scales appeared in the film The Ghost of Greville Lodge as Sarah. The same year, she appeared as Eleanor Bunsall in Midsomer Murders' "Beyond the Grave". In 2001, she appeared in two episodes of Silent Witness' "Faith" as Mrs Parker. In 2003, she appeared as Hilda, "she who must be obeyed", wife of Horace Rumpole, in four BBC Radio 4 plays, with Timothy West playing her fictional husband. Scales and West toured Australia at the same time in different productions. Scales appeared in a one-woman show called An Evening with Queen Victoria, which also featured the tenor Ian Partridge singing songs written by Prince Albert. Scales has performed An Evening with Queen Victoria more than 400 times, in theatres around the world, over the course of 30 years.^[21]

Scales voiced the speaking ("cawing") role of Magpie, the eponymous thief in a 2003 recording of Gioachino Rossini's opera La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie).

In 2006, Scales appeared alongside Academy Award winners Vanessa Redgrave and Maximilian Schell in the mini-series The Shell Seekers.

On 16 November 2007, Scales appeared in Children in Need, reprising her role as Sybil Fawlty, the new manager who wants to take over Hotel Babylon. John Cleese said in an interview on 8 May 2009 that the role of Sybil Fawlty was originally offered to Bridget Turner, who turned down the part, claiming "it wasn't right for her".^{[citation needed]}

Scales appeared in the audio play The Youth of Old Age, produced in 2008 by the Wireless Theatre Company, and available to download free of charge on their website.^[22] In 2008, she appeared in Agatha Christie's Miss Marple "A Pocket Full of Rye" as Mrs Mackenzie.

Scales appeared in a production of Carrie's War, the Nina Bawden novel, at the West End Apollo Theatre in 2009.^[23] The run was successful despite middling reviews. However, Ben Bradley, writing for The New York Times Arts & Beats, stated that Scales was the most memorable thing about the show, "[playing] a rich, Miss Havisham-like eccentric, who trails through her house in evening gowns".^[24]

Scales starred in the 2011 British live-action 3D family comedy film Horrid Henry: The Movie as the titular character's Great Aunt Greta.^[19] She appeared in a short audio story, Dandruff Hits the Turtleneck, written by John Mayfield, and available for download.^[25] Scales starred in a short film called "Stranger Danger" alongside Roderick Cowie in 2012.^[26] In 2013 she made a guest appearance in the popular BBC radio comedy Cabin Pressure as Wendy Crieff, the mother of Captain Martin Crieff.

 

Scales's husband, actor Timothy West, and she travelled together on narrowboats for the documentary series Great Canal Journeys.

 

Actor Samuel West, Scales and Timothy West's son, played Siegfried Farnon in the 2020 remake of the veterinary drama series All Creatures Great and Small.

Alongside her husband, Scales appeared in Great Canal Journeys for Channel 4 from 2014 for 10 series, before her deteriorating health brought her television career to an end. Stuart Heritage, writing for The Guardian in November 2016, commented that it "is ultimately a work about a devoted couple facing something huge together. It's a beautiful, meditative programme".^[27] "An emotional but unrooted glimpse of life with dementia" was Christopher Howse's characterization in October 2018, writing for The Telegraph.^[28] Reviewing Scales's and West's last episode in October 2019 for The Guardian, Jack Seale wrote "Since the first instalment in 2014, the series has charted the long, slow goodbye that is living with dementia, cherishing every moment of precious normality and celebrating how an immersion in nature is the surest way to bring the old Pru back."^[29]

In 1992, Scales appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, a programme where guests are asked to decide which one book, luxury item, and eight audio recordings they would want with them should they be stranded on a deserted island. Her chosen books were the Complete Works of Shakespeare in German, the Bible in Russian and a Russian dictionary; her luxury item was "a huge tapestry kit".^[30]

Her biography, Prunella, written by Teresa Ransom, was published by UK publishing imprint John Murray in 2005.^[31]

In 2005, Scales named the P&O cruise ship Artemis.^[32]

A rose-breeder created a rose, Prunella, in her honour.^[33]

She is a patron of the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham.^[34]

Scales was married to the actor Timothy West from 1963 until his death in 2024. They had two sons; the elder is actor and director Samuel West. Their younger son Joseph (Joe) participated in two episodes of Great Canal Journeys, filmed in France. Scales also has a step-daughter, by West's first marriage.

From 1997 until 2002, Scales was president of CPRE, at that time known as the Council for the Protection of Rural England.^[35]

Scales's husband first noticed that she was having minor difficulties when she was performing in a play in 2001. She was eventually diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2014. The diagnosis did not prevent her from taking part in Great Canal Journeys, in which she and her husband spoke openly about her illness.^[36] Her declining health led the couple to leave the series in 2019.^[37] Interviewed for the BBC in 2023, soon after celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary, West said, with reference to Scales's dementia: "Somehow we have coped with it and Pru doesn't really think about it."^[36]

In 1999, Scales was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1992 Birthday Honours List; her husband had received the same honour in the 1984 Birthday Honours List. In 1999, she was awarded a D.Litt. honorary degree by the University of Bradford and, in 2000, by the University of East Anglia.^[35]

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prunella Scales.

• Prunella Scales at IMDb
• Prunella Scales at the BFI's Screenonline
• Prunella Scales at the Internet Broadway Database  
• Prunella Scales discography at Discogs
• "Sybil Fawlty played by Prunella Scales". fawltysite.net. 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2015.