John Cleese pays tribute to Fawlty Towers’ Prunella Scales

Actor John Cleese has paid tribute to his Fawlty Towers co-star Prunella Scales following her death aged 93, saying she was “a really wonderful comic actress”, adding: “Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect.”

Scales starred in the popular BBC comedy series playing Sybil, the long-suffering wife of bumbling hotelier Basil Fawlty, played by Cleese.

The actress died “peacefully at home in London yesterday” and had been watching Fawlty Towers the day before she died, her sons Samuel and Joseph said in a statement to the PA news agency.

Their statement added: “Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home.

“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.”

Cleese said in a statement: “How very sad. Pru was a really wonderful comic actress. I’ve recently been watching a number of clips of Fawlty Towers whilst researching a book. Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect.”

He added: “She was a very sweet lady, who spent a lot of her life apologising. I used to tease her about it. I was very, very fond of her.”

Fawlty Towers won the Bafta for best scripted comedy in 1976 and this year marked 50 years since the comedy show first appeared on screens.

The series also starred the late Andrew Sachs as hapless Spanish waiter Manuel, and Cleese’s then-wife Connie Booth as chambermaid Polly.

Downing Street passed on its condolences to Scales’ family, with Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman saying: “Clearly Prunella Scales was part of a golden era for British comedy, someone whose talent was beamed into people’s homes over many years and gave many people a huge amount of enjoyment.

“The Prime Minister, of course, passes all his condolences to her family.”

Scales had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.

She also played Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett’s A Question Of Attribution, a role which earned her a Bafta nomination, and in 1973 Scales teamed up with Ronnie Barker in the series Seven Of One, also for the BBC.

Jon Petrie, director of comedy at the BBC, paid tribute, saying: “All of us at BBC Comedy are so sorry to hear of Prunella Scales’ 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.”

Her husband Timothy West, who died in November 2024, starred in TV shows such as comedy drama Brass, sitcom Not Going Out and soaps Coronation Street and EastEnders.

Together the couple filmed 10 series of the Channel 4 programme Great Canal Journeys, which saw them travel across the UK and other parts of the world exploring different waterways, and the couple also talked openly about Scales’s diagnosis.

Their last journey for the programme was broadcast in June 2019.

In 2023, the couple did a joint interview with BBC Breakfast where West spoke about first noticing signs of his wife’s illness while she was performing on stage at the Greenwich Theatre in 2001.

Scales’s big career break was starring in the early 1960s sitcom Marriage Lines, and she also featured in many BBC Radio 4 sitcoms.

Her diverse credits ranged from Long Day’s Journey Into Night on stage in the West End in 1991, which also starred West, to playing the widow Sarah in the gentle TV and radio comedy After Henry.

She also appeared in films including 1987’s The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne and Consuming Passions, which also starred Dame Vanessa Redgrave and Sir Jonathan Pryce.

Corinne Mills, interim chief executive at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “We are deeply saddened by the news that Prunella Scales – a true British icon – has died.

“Prunella was an inspiration not just for her achievements on screen, but because she spoke so openly about living with dementia, shining an important light on the UK’s biggest killer.

“We are profoundly grateful for the awareness she helped to raise and send our heartfelt condolences to her loved ones.”