Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

Gender

Female

Birthday

1932-06-22 (92 years old)

Place of Birth

Sutton Abinger, Surrey, England, UK

Also Known As

Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales
Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth
پرونلا اسکیلز

Prunella Scales

Biography

Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales CBE (née Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is 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.

Known For

6.1%

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Acting

2014		50 Years of BBC Two Comedy as Self
2014		Great Canal Journeys as Self
2014		Sub Rosa as Madame

2013

The Phone Call as Joan

2012

Run For Your Wife as Woman in Pub

2011

Horrid Henry: The Movie as Great Aunt Greta

2009

Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened as Self / Sybil Fawlty

2007		The Shell Seekers as Dolly Keeling
2007		What the Pythons Did Next... as Self

2006

Mr. Loveday's Little Outing as Lady Moping

2005

Fawlty Towers Revisited as Herself

2004

Agatha Christie's Marple as Mrs Mackenzie

2003

The Royal as Red Admiral

2002		Dickens
2002		A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg as Grace

2001

Station Jim as Queen Victoria

2000

The Ghost of Greville Lodge

1999		Mad Cows as Dr. Minny Stinkler
1999		Loose Women as Self
1999		An Ideal Husband as Lady Markby

1998

Stiff Upper Lips as Aunt Agnes

1997		Keeping Mum as Marjorie
1997		An Audience with Alf Garnett
1997		Midsomer Murders as Eleanor Bunsall

1996		Emma as Miss Bates
1996		Breaking the Code as Sara Turing
1996		Lord of Misrule as Shirley
1996		Dennis the Menace and Gnasher as Mrs. Duffel
1996		Dalziel & Pascoe
1996		Silent Witness as Anne Parker

1995		The World of Lee Evans as Mother
1995		Look at the State We're In! as Storyteller
1995		An Awfully Big Adventure as Rose
1995		Signs and Wonders as Elizabeth Palmore

1994		Second Best as Margery
1994		Wolf as Maude Waggins
1994		Fair Game as Marjorie
1994		The Rector's Wife as Marjorie Richardson

1992		Freddie as F.R.O.7. as Queen (voice)
1992		My Friend Walter as Aunt Ellie
1992		Howards End as Aunt Juley

1991

A Question of Attribution as H.M.Q.

1990		The Tale of Little Pig Robinson as Fleecy Flock
1990		Dirty Beasts as Narrator
1990		Revolting Rhymes as Narrator

1989		Beyond The Pale as Milly
1989		A Chorus of Disapproval as Hannah Ap Llewellyn
1989		Bosses From Hell
1989		Communicators From Hell

1988		Thompson
1988		Natural Causes as Celia Bryce
1988		Consuming Passions as Ethel
1988		After Henry

1987		When We Are Married as Annie Parker
1987		The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne as Moira O'Neill
1987		What the Butler Saw as Mrs Prentice

1986		Unnatural Causes as Judith
1986		Home Cooking as Judith
1986		Casualty as Jocelyn Anderson

1985		Theatre Night as Mrs. Prentice
1985		Mapp & Lucia
1985		Absurd Person Singular as Marion Brewster-Wright

1984

Slimming Down as Mrs. Shrigley

1983

The Wicked Lady as Lady Kingsclere

1982		The Merry Wives of Windsor as Mistress Page
1982		Outside Edge as Miriam

1981

Bergerac as Gloria Gibbins

1978		Doris and Doreen as Doris Rutter
1978		The BBC Television Shakespeare as Mistress Page
1978		The Boys from Brazil as Mrs. Harrington
1978		The Hound of the Baskervilles as Glynis
1978		An Audience with... as Self

1977		Target
1977		The Achurch Letters as Florence Farr

1976		Lucky Feller
1976		The Littlest Horse Thieves as Mrs. Sandman

1975		Fawlty Towers as Sybil Fawlty
1975		The Apple Cart as Queen Jemima

1973

Seven of One

1965

Thirty-Minute Theatre as Marie

1962

Waltz of the Toreadors as Estella Fitzjohn

1961

Marriage Lines

1958

Room at the Top as Council Office Worker (uncredited)

1954		What Every Woman Wants as Mary
1954		Hobson's Choice as Vicky Hobson

1953

Laxdale Hall as Morag McLeod

1952

Pride and Prejudice as Lydia Bennet