Actress Prunella Scales, who played the domineering hotel manager Sybil Fawlty - the wife of John Cleese’s Basil on the British comedy series “Fawlty Towers” -- died on Oct. 27. She was 93.
The actress died “peacefully at home in London yesterday”, her sons, Samuel and Joseph West, confirmed to the BBC. They added that Scales was watching “Fawlty Towers” the day before she died.
She had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.
“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,” her sons’ statement read. “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.”
Her husband, fellow actor Timothy West, died in November 2024.
RIP Prunella Scales. Your portrayal of Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers will forever be iconic pic.twitter.com/i43jf78xbq
— Meh (@Spilling_The_T) October 28, 2025
Scales starred in all 12 episodes of “Fawlty Towers” from 1975 to 1979, playing the sharp-tongued foil to exasperated hotel owner Basil Fawlty (Cleese). Her prim, proper coolness could be sliced with her bark of “Basil” when she disapproved of her husband’s schemes.
Cleese’s bumbling, stressed-out character of Basil would refer to his wife with several derogatory nicknames -- always behind her back -- such as “the dragon” and “my little piranha fish.”
“She was a national treasure whose brilliance as Sybil Fawlty lit up screens and still makes us laugh today," said Jon Petrie, director of comedy at the BBC.
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’s A Question Of Attribution. pic.twitter.com/Xz39mY41kj
— BAFTA (@BAFTA) October 28, 2025
Scales began her career in 1951 as an assistant stage manager at the Bristol Old Vic.
Her first break came in the 1960s sitcom “Marriage Lines.”
In addition to “Fawlty Towers,” Scales earned a BAFTA nomination for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the 1991 televised play “A Question of Attribution.”
Her other credits include the series “Mapp & Lucia” and films including “The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne” (1987), “Howards End” (1992), “Wolf” (1994) and “An Awfully Big Adventure” (1995).
From 2014 to 2020, Scales co-hosted “Great Canal Journeys” with her husband as they explored British waterways.
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