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John Cleese has paid tribute to his Fawlty Towers co-star Prunella Scales, who has died aged 93. In a short statement issued to press, he described his on-screen wife in the BBC sitcom as “a really wonderful comic actress,” and added: “Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect.” In Fawlty Towers, Scales played the irascible and long-suffering Sybil Fawlty, who was often angered by the bumbling incompetence of husband and hotel manager Basil, played by Cleese. The two would often butt heads as Basil attempted to keep his latest mishap from her attention. Cleese wrote the series with co-star and then-wife Connie Booth, who played chambermaid Polly. The show ran for just two seasons between 1975 and 1979, but is still remembered as one of the UK’s greatest ever sitcoms. In February 2023, Monty Python star Cleese announced a plan to reboot Fawlty Towers, developing new scripts for a series set in a Caribbean hotel alongside his daughter Camilla Cleese and Rob Reiner‘s Castle Rock Entertainment. Scales passed away yesterday at home after a long battle with dementia. This came just under a year after her husband of 61 years, actor Timothy West, died aged 90. Together, they fronted the gentle Channel 4 series Great Canal Journeys between 2014 and 2019. Tributes have come flooring in for Scales, who also acted the likes of The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Boys from Brazil and Howards End, and received a BAFTA nomination for her role playing Queen Elizabeth II in A Question of Attribution. BAFTA, the British TV and film academy, said in a statement: “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.” BBC Director of Comedy Jon Petrie said: “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.”
