Prunella Scales

Known for: Acting
Born: June 22, 1932, Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK
Died: October 27, 2025
Movies: 64

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.

Best-Known Movies

6.1

Wolf

1994

7.0

Howards End

1992

6.7

The Boys from Brazil

1978

7.4

Hobson's Choice

1954

6.9

Room at the Top

1958

6.6

Emma

1996

5.2

Horrid Henry: The Movie

2011

7.3

The Phone Call

2013

6.5

An Awfully Big Adventure

1995

6.7

Second Best

1994

Filmography

2025	The Cancellation Of Fawlty Towers
2014	50 Years of BBC Two Comedy	Self
2014	Sub Rosa	Madame
2013	The Phone Call	Joan
2012	Run For Your Wife	Woman in Pub
2011	Horrid Henry: The Movie	Great Aunt Greta
2009	Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened	Self / Sybil Fawlty
2007	The Shell Seekers	Dolly Keeling
2007	Think	Customer
2007	What the Pythons Did Next...	Self
2006	Mr. Loveday's Little Outing	Lady Moping
2005	Fawlty Towers Revisited	Herself
2005	The Funny Blokes of British Comedy	Sybil Fawlty (archive footage) (uncredited)
2002	A Day in the Death of Joe Egg	Grace
2001	Station Jim	Queen Victoria
2000	The Ghost of Greville Lodge	Sarah
1999	Mad Cows	Dr. Minny Stinkler
1999	An Ideal Husband	Lady Markby
1998	Stiff Upper Lips	Aunt Agnes
1997	An Audience with Alf Garnett
1996	Emma	Miss Bates
1996	Breaking the Code	Sara Turing
1996	Lord of Misrule	Shirley
1995	An Awfully Big Adventure	Rose
1994	Second Best	Margery
1994	Wolf	Maude Waggins
1994	Fair Game	Marjorie
1994	The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher	Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (voice)
1992	Freddie As F.R.O.7.	Queen (voice)
1992	My Friend Walter	Aunt Ellie
1992	Howards End	Aunt Juley
1991	A Question of Attribution	H.M.Q.
1990	The Tale of Little Pig Robinson	Fleecy Flock
1990	Dirty Beasts	Narrator
1990	Revolting Rhymes	Narrator
1989	Beyond The Pale	Milly
1989	A Chorus of Disapproval	Hannah Ap Llewellyn
1989	Bosses From Hell
1989	Communicators From Hell
1988	Natural Causes	Celia Bryce
1988	Consuming Passions	Ethel
1987	When We Are Married	Annie Parker
1987	The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne	Moira O'Neill
1987	What the Butler Saw	Mrs Prentice
1986	Home Cooking	Judith
1985	Absurd Person Singular	Marion Brewster-Wright
1984	Slimming Down	Mrs. Shrigley
1983	The Wicked Lady	Lady Kingsclere
1983	Singles	Gail
1982	The Merry Wives of Windsor	Mistress Page
1982	Outside Edge	Miriam
1978	Doris and Doreen	Doris Rutter
1978	The Boys from Brazil	Mrs. Harrington
1978	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Glynis
1977	The Achurch Letters	Florence Farr
1976	The Littlest Horse Thieves	Mrs. Sandman
1975	The Apple Cart	Queen Jemima
1973	The Ring of Truth	Babs Pickard
1962	Waltz of the Toreadors	Estella Fitzjohn
1958	Room at the Top	Council Office Worker (uncredited)
1954	The Crowded Day	Customer
1954	What Every Woman Wants	Mary
1954	Hobson's Choice	Vicky Hobson
1953	Laxdale Hall	Morag McLeod

Data from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.