Prunella Scales (born
Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth)
CBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 22 June 1932) is an English actress, best known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy
Fawlty TowersFawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Although only twelve episodes were produced the programme has had a lasting and powerful legacy....
and her award-nominated role as Elizabeth II in the British film
A Question of AttributionA Question of Attribution is a 1991 television play written by Alan Bennett and commissioned by the BBC. Directed by John Schlesinger, it starred James Fox as Anthony Blunt and Prunella Scales as Queen Elizabeth II....
.
During her long career Scales has usually been cast in comic roles. Her early work included the second UK adaptation of
Pride and Prejudice (1952) and
Hobson's Choice (1954).
Her career break came with the early 1960s sitcom,
Marriage LinesMarriage Lines was a popular black-and-white British sitcom that aired from 1961 to 1966 which launched the careers of its lead stars, Richard Briers and Prunella Scales. It was originally entitled The Marriage Lines...
starring opposite
Richard BriersRichard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
.
Prunella Scales (born
Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth)
CBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 22 June 1932) is an English actress, best known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy
Fawlty TowersFawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Although only twelve episodes were produced the programme has had a lasting and powerful legacy....
and her award-nominated role as Elizabeth II in the British film
A Question of AttributionA Question of Attribution is a 1991 television play written by Alan Bennett and commissioned by the BBC. Directed by John Schlesinger, it starred James Fox as Anthony Blunt and Prunella Scales as Queen Elizabeth II....
.
Career
During her long career Scales has usually been cast in comic roles. Her early work included the second UK adaptation of
Pride and Prejudice (1952) and
Hobson's Choice (1954).
Her career break came with the early 1960s sitcom,
Marriage LinesMarriage Lines was a popular black-and-white British sitcom that aired from 1961 to 1966 which launched the careers of its lead stars, Richard Briers and Prunella Scales. It was originally entitled The Marriage Lines...
starring opposite
Richard BriersRichard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
. In addition to
Fawlty TowersFawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Although only twelve episodes were produced the programme has had a lasting and powerful legacy....
, she has had roles in
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a domestic UK radio station that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967.-Outline:...
sitcomsA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
, notably
After Henry,
Smelling of RosesSmelling of Roses was a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Prunella Scales and written by Simon Brett. There were four series, each of six episodes, broadcast from 2000 to 2003. Scales stars as Rosie Burns, manager of her own event management business in Brighton, "In Any Event"...
and
Ladies of LettersLadies of Letters is a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales, based on the series of books of the same name written by Carole Hayman and Lou Wakefield...
; on television she starred in the
London Weekend TelevisionLondon Weekend Television is the ITV network franchise holder for London and the South East at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5:15pm. to Monday mornings at 5:59am....
/
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
series
Mapp & Lucia based on the novels by E. F. Benson. She played
Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
in
Alan BennettAlan Bennett is an English author, actor, humorist and playwright.-Early years:Bennett was born in Armley in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The son of a co-op butcher, Bennett attended Leeds Modern School , learned Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists during his National Service, and gained...
's
A Question of AttributionA Question of Attribution is a 1991 television play written by Alan Bennett and commissioned by the BBC. Directed by John Schlesinger, it starred James Fox as Anthony Blunt and Prunella Scales as Queen Elizabeth II....
. In 1973, Scales teamed with
Ronnie BarkerRonald William George Barker, OBE was an English actor and comedian, best known for his roles as Norman Stanley Fletcher in the British comedy television series Porridge, as various characters in the British comedy television series The Two Ronnies and as Albert Arkwright in the British comedy...
in the (original) one-off
Meat, which aired as
One Man's Meat as part of a series called
Seven of OneSeven of One was a British comedy series that aired on BBC1 in 1973. Starring Ronnie Barker, Seven of One is a series of seven separate comedies that would serve as possible pilots for sitcoms...
, also for the BBC. Her film appearances also include
The Lonely Passion of Judith HearneThe Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is a 1987 drama film made by Handmade Films Ltd. and United British Artists . It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by Richard Johnson and Peter Nelson with George Harrison and Denis O'Brien as executive producers. The screenplay was by Peter Nelson from...
(1987)
Stiff Upper LipsStiff Upper Lips is a broad parody of British period films, especially the lavish Merchant-Ivory productions of the 'eighties and early 'nineties...
(1997) and
Howard's End (1992).
In 1997, Scales starred in
Chris BarfootChris Barfoot is a British multi-award winning writer/director and producer of film productions.- Personal Information :...
's classic multi award winning Sci Fi short movie of
Phoenix which was first aired in 1999 by
NBC UniversalNBC Universal, Inc. is a media and entertainment company formed in May 2004 by the combination of General Electric's NBC with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, part of the French Media Group. The deal excluded the French Canal+ operations, which were retained by Vivendi. GE owns 80% of NBC Universal...
's
Sci Fi ChannelSyfy is an American cable television channel launched on September 24, 1992, that specializes in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal programming. It is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBC Universal...
. Scales played 'The Client', an evil government minister funding inter-genetic time travel experiments...
PhoenixPhoenix is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the fifth most populous city in the United States...
was recut in 2006 and retitled to
HelixA helix is a special kind of space curve, i.e. a smooth curve in three-space. As a mental image of a helix one may take the spring...
, it won first place at the 2006
Dragon ConDragon Con is a North America multigenre convention, held annually in Atlanta, Georgia. The 30,000-plus-member convention encompasses four hotels in downtown Atlanta near Centennial Olympic Park, and is hosted by a 1500-member volunteer staff. Dragon Con has hosted the 1990 Origins Game Fair and...
film Festival.
In 2003, she appeared as Hilda, "she who must be obeyed", wife of
Horace RumpoleRumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer, QC which starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients...
in four BBC Radio 4 plays, her husband playing her fictional husband. Prunella Scales and Timothy West toured Australia at the same time in different productions. Scales appeared in a one-woman show called "
An Evening with Queen Victoria".
On 16 November 2007, Prunella Scales appeared in
Children in NeedBBC Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million.-Overview:Each year since 1980, the BBC has set aside one evening of programming on its flagship television channel, BBC One, to show events aimed at raising money exclusively...
, returned to her role as Sybil Fawlty, the new manager who wants to take over
Hotel BabylonHotel Babylon is a BBC television drama series based on the book of the same name by Imogen Edwards-Jones, first shown in January 2006. Produced by independent production company Carnival Films for BBC One, the show follows the lives of workers at a glamorous five-star hotel.-Ratings:The show...
. Her latest appearance was in the audio play
The Youth of Old Age, produced in 2008 by the
Wireless Theatre CompanyThe Wireless Theatre Company is an online audio theatre company, founded in July 2007. Launched by Mariele Runacre Temple, daughter of actress Jenny Runacre, the company produces radio plays, audio comedy and short stories for download....
. She will appear in a production of
Carrie's WarCarrie's War is a 1973 novel by Nina Bawden about the experiences of a girl called Carrie and her brother Nick, who are evacuated from London to Wales during World War II."Carrie had often dreamed about coming back...
, the
Nina BawdenNina Bawden CBE is a popular British novelist and children's writer. Her mother was a teacher and her father a marine....
novel, at the
Apollo TheatreThe Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...
in 2009.
On 8 May 2009, it was announced in an interview with
John CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an Academy Award-nominated English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer who is known for being a member of the group of comedians responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different,...
that the role of Sybil Fawlty was originally offered to
Bridget TurnerBridget Turner is an British actress.As an actress she has worked with a number of very famous actors including Peter O'Toole, Elizabeth Taylor, Kirk Douglas, Bernard Blier, Trevor Howard, Bernadette Lafont and Richard Burton and Christina Ricci.On May 8, 2009 it was announced in an interview with...
, who "in the worst move of her life", turned down the part, claiming that "it wasn't right for her".
Other activities
Scales appeared on a Labour
party political broadcastA party political broadcast is a short television or radio broadcast made by a political party....
during the
2005 UK general election campaignThe United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect members to the House of Commons.The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a reduced overall majority of 66 and they failed to gain any new seats...
. She also supports the
SOS Children's VillagesSOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental international development organisation which has been working to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children since 1949. It was founded by Hermann Gmeiner in Imst, Austria. It has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize...
charity.
Her biography,
Prunella, written by Teresa Ransom, was published by John Murray in 2005. She is also a patron of the
Lace Market TheatreThe Lace Market Theatre is a small, independent amateur theatre, located in the centre of Nottingham, England. It is owned and operated by The Lace Market Theatre Trust Limited, which is a registered charity.-Origins:...
in
NottinghamNottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England and is one of only eight members of the English Core Cities Group....
, United Kingdom. In 2005 she named the
P&OP&O Cruises is a United Kingdom-based cruise line that operates six cruise ships based in the United Kingdom. It is one of the many cruise lines operated by Carnival Corporation & plc...
cruise ship,
Artemis.
Prunella Scales is an Ambassador of
SOS Children's Villages, an international orphan charity providing homes and mothers for orphaned and abandoned children. She currently supports the charity's annual
World Orphan Week campaign which takes place each February.
Personal life
She is married to
Timothy WestTimothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
, and has two sons; the elder is actor and director
Samuel WestSamuel West is a British actor and theatre director.-Early life:West is the son of actors Prunella Scales and Timothy West. He was educated at Alleyn's School, a co-educational independent school in Dulwich, London, and later studied English Literature at Lady Margaret Hall at the University of...
. She also has a stepdaughter, Juliet.
External links