British actress Prunella Scales has died after a decade-long battle with dementia that ended her 67-year acting career.
The Fawlty Towers icon was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2014 and has mostly remained out the spotlight since.
Scales was best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, the stern wife of John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty in classic sitcom Fawlty Towers.
The beloved sitcom ran for two series of six episodes each in 1975 and 1979 and is considered one of the best British comedy series ever made.
The iconic actress also portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question Of Attribution as well as appearing in a one-woman show called, An Evening With Queen Victoria.
A statement to the PA news agency said: “Our darling mother Prunella Scales died peacefully at home in London yesterday. She was 93.
“Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home.
“She was watching Fawlty Towers the day before she died.
“Pru was married to Timothy West for 61 years. He died in November 2024.
“She is survived by two sons and one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
“We would like to thank all those who gave Pru such wonderful care at the end of her life: her last days were comfortable, contented and surrounded by love.”
This year marked 50 years since the beloved sitcom first appeared on screens and entertained the nation.
Her husband Timothy West, who died last year, starred in TV shows such as comedy drama Brass, sitcom Not Going Out and soaps Coronation Street and Eastenders.
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.
In later life, between 2014 and 2019, the couple filmed Great Canal Journeys, a Channel 4 series celebrating their love of narrow boating.
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.”
