Actress Prunella Scales, the sarcastic wife from 'Fawlty Towers', dies

BarcelonaBritish actress Prunella Scales, known for playing the character of Sybil Fawlty in the comedy Fawlty TowersShe has died at the age of 93, her family announced on Tuesday. The actress had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2013 and died at her home in London. After a long career on stage and screen, Scales achieved popularity with the television comedy series. The marriage lineswhich she starred in alongside Richard Briers. However, one of the roles that brought her the most fame was that of Sybil Fawlty, the patient and sarcastic wife of the hotel owner in the series. Fawlty Hotel, which aired with great success on TV3 during the 1980s.

The British series, considered one of the best comedies in television history, was written by and starred John Cleese, a former member of the comedy group Monty Python. The actor played Basil, the incompetent and arrogant owner of a small, supposedly fictional hotel located in the town of Torquay, on the English coast of Devon. In the series, Basil and Sybil Fawlty tried their hardest to make the business a success and, incidentally, to keep their marriage from falling apart. Despite being fiction, it was inspired by a personal experience of Cleese's: in 1970, he and the rest of Monty Python stayed at the now-demolished Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay while filming exterior scenes for their show in a nearby location. Monty Python's Flying CircusThe stay wasn't entirely pleasant, because the owner of the establishment, Donald Sinclair, constantly hurled insults and complained. "He was the rudest man I've ever met," the comic has explained on more than one occasion. Once filming for Monty Python was complete, and fascinated by the character, Cleese and his then-wife, Connie Booth, decided to stay a few more days to gather information about the hotel and the director. According to the statement released by her children announcing the actress's death, Prunella Scales saw Fawlty Towers The day before his death.

Cleese's farewell

In a statement, John Cleese expressed his sorrow at the actress's death: "What a tragedy. Pru was a truly wonderful comedic actress. Lately, I've been watching several clips of Fawlty Towers while looking for a book. Scene after scene, she was absolutely perfect. She was a very sweet woman, and she spent a good part of her life apologizing. I used to joke with her about that. I was very, very fond of her." Scales also played Queen Elizabeth II in A question of attribution, a role for which she received a BAFTA nomination in 1992. Between 2014 and 2019, Scales and her husband, Timothy West, presented the Channel 4 show Great Canal Journeys, which followed the couple on their travels through canals in the United Kingdom and Europe.