Prunella Scales, Beloved ‘Fawlty Towers’ Star, Dies at 93

Prunel­la Scales, the cher­ished British actress best known for her icon­ic role as the sharp-tongued Sybil Fawl­ty in the leg­endary sit­com Fawl­ty Tow­ers, has died at the age of 93. Her fam­i­ly con­firmed that she passed away peace­ful­ly at her home in Lon­don, sur­round­ed by loved ones.

“It is with great sad­ness that we announce the death of our beloved moth­er,” her sons Samuel and Joseph West said in a state­ment. “She had a long and won­der­ful life, and she left this world know­ing she was deeply loved.”

A Life in Laughter — and Beyond

Born in 1932, Scales became a house­hold name thanks to her pitch-per­fect por­tray­al of Sybil Fawl­ty, the sharp, no-non­sense foil to John Cleese’s hap­less hote­lier Basil. With her bit­ing wit and impec­ca­ble com­ic tim­ing, Scales trans­formed Sybil into one of the most unfor­get­table char­ac­ters in British tele­vi­sion his­to­ry — a mix of exas­per­a­tion, ele­gance, and per­fect­ly deliv­ered one-lin­ers.

While Fawl­ty Tow­ers remains her most cel­e­brat­ed work, Scales’ career stretched far beyond Torquay’s fic­tion­al hotel. She starred in the 1960s sit­com Mar­riage Lines oppo­site Richard Briers, appeared in dozens of films, and gave acclaimed per­for­mances on stage — includ­ing as Queen Eliz­a­beth II in A Ques­tion of Attri­bu­tion and as Queen Vic­to­ria in a one-woman show.

Her ver­sa­til­i­ty, intel­li­gence, and instinct for char­ac­ter made her one of Britain’s most respect­ed and beloved actress­es.

Love and Legacy

Scales was mar­ried to fel­low actor Tim­o­thy West for 61 years, form­ing one of the most endur­ing part­ner­ships in British the­atre and tele­vi­sion. The couple’s love sto­ry cap­tured hearts again lat­er in life when they appeared togeth­er in Great Canal Jour­neys, a gen­tle trav­el series that doc­u­ment­ed their adven­tures — and, poignant­ly, Scales’ bat­tle with vas­cu­lar demen­tia, diag­nosed in 2013.

Despite her ill­ness, Scales con­tin­ued to bring humor and warmth to her work and pub­lic appear­ances. “She nev­er lost her sense of mis­chief,” her son Samuel once said. “Even when she for­got where she was, she could still deliv­er a per­fect punch­line.”

West, who passed away in Novem­ber 2024, often described their mar­riage as “a great adven­ture filled with laugh­ter, kind­ness, and courage.”

Remembering Sybil — and Prunella

Trib­utes have poured in from across the enter­tain­ment world. John Cleese, her Fawl­ty Tow­ers co-star, remem­bered Scales as “a tru­ly bril­liant com­ic actress — end­less­ly pre­cise, end­less­ly fun­ny, and end­less­ly kind.”

British Prime Min­is­ter Keir Starmer also paid trib­ute, call­ing her “a nation­al trea­sure who brought joy to mil­lions and dig­ni­ty to every­thing she did.”

A Graceful Farewell

Even in her lat­er years, Scales remained a sym­bol of grace, humor, and human­i­ty. Her final days, her fam­i­ly said, were “peace­ful and full of light.” They shared that she watched Fawl­ty Tow­ers the day before she died — still laugh­ing at the show that made her a star half a cen­tu­ry ago.

Prunel­la Scales is sur­vived by her two sons, a step­daugh­ter, sev­en grand­chil­dren, and four great-grand­chil­dren.

Her lega­cy lives on in the laugh­ter she inspired — and in the time­less image of Sybil Fawl­ty, phone in hand, voice sharp, heart steady, for­ev­er ready to run the world from the front desk of a chaot­ic sea­side hotel.