{"id":230770,"date":"2025-10-28T20:50:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T20:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/230770\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T20:50:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T20:50:16","slug":"john-cleese-remembers-fawlty-towers-wife-prunella-scales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/230770\/","title":{"rendered":"John Cleese Remembers ‘Fawlty Towers’ Wife Prunella Scales"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJohn Cleese<\/a> has paid tribute to his Fawlty Towers<\/a> co-star Prunella Scales<\/a>, who has died at age 93<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a short statement issued to press, he described his on-screen wife in the BBC<\/a> sitcom as \u201ca really wonderful comic actress,\u201d and added: \u201cScene after scene she was absolutely perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Fawlty Towers, Scales played the irascible and long-suffering Sybil Fawlty, who was often angered by the bumbling incompetence of husband and hotel manager Basil, played by Cleese. The two would often butt heads as Basil attempted to keep his latest mishap from her attention.<\/p>\n

\n\tCleese wrote the series with co-star and then-wife Connie Booth, who played chambermaid Polly. The show ran for just two seasons between 1975 and 1979 but is remembered as one of the UK\u2019s greatest sitcoms.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn February 2023, Monty Python star Cleese announced a plan<\/a> to reboot Fawlty Towers, developing new scripts for a series set in a Caribbean hotel alongside his daughter Camilla Cleese and\u00a0Rob Reiner\u2018s\u00a0Castle Rock Entertainment.<\/p>\n

\n\tScales passed away Monday at home after a long battle with dementia. This came just under a year after her husband of 61 years, actor Timothy West, died at age 90<\/a>. Together, they fronted the gentle Channel 4 series Great Canal Journeys between 2014 and 2019.<\/p>\n

\n\tTributes have come flooding in for Scales, who also acted the likes of The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Boys from Brazil\u00a0and\u00a0Howards End, and received a BAFTA nomination for her role playing Queen Elizabeth II in A Question of Attribution.<\/p>\n

\n\tBAFTA, the British TV and film academy, said in a statement: \u201cWe\u2019re saddened to hear that actress Prunella Scales has died, aged 93. Much-loved for portraying Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, Scales had a long-standing career and was nominated for a BAFTA in 1992 for playing Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett\u2019s A Question Of Attribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

We’re saddened to hear that actress Prunella Scales has died, aged 93. Much-loved for portraying Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, Scales had a long-standing career and was nominated for a BAFTA in 1992 for playing Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett\u2019s A Question Of Attribution. pic.twitter.com\/Xz39mY41kj<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 BAFTA (@BAFTA) October 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tBBC Director of Comedy Jon Petrie said: \u201cAll of us at BBC Comedy are so sorry to hear of Prunella Scales\u2019 passing. She was a national treasure whose brilliance as Sybil Fawlty lit up screens and still makes us laugh today. We send our love and condolences to her family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n