"She was the first dramatic actor to play the latter on television, and won a Bafta nomination for doing so. However, Scales, who has died aged 93, knew that public memory of her would be shaped by another woman. One who made those two royals look powerless the self-declared domestic and hospitality industry empress, Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil, owner of the worst hotel in Torquay in Fawlty Towers, in which she co-starred with John Cleese, who also co-wrote with Connie Booth."
"Though occupying only a few months of work in a seven-decade career that stretched from Lydia Bennet in a 1952 BBC Pride and Prejudice to a cameo in ITV's The Royal (2011), the dozen episodes of the 1975 and 1979 series of Fawlty Towers have achieved rerun immortality. They have become a template for perfection in sitcom writing and performances, including Scales's."
"In naming the character, Cleese brought into play the classical associations of various Sybils with prophecy, longevity, guarding the gates of hell and, above all, inducing terror in mortal men. Especially effective at the last of these, Scales, an accomplished classical stage actor, knowingly channelled these mythical women. Sybil cowed her husband with what might be called a Basilisk stare. The single word of another character's name might not seem the most promising basis for a national catchphrase, but Scales created one from Basil!."
"Scales was especially skilful in the elasticity of her delivery. Sometimes she barked so hard and fast that Basil seemed to have only one syllable. But elongating words like an opera singer gave Sybil another of her signature tics: the gossipy, Oh, I knoooooow!, that would punctuate phone calls to unseen friends. Further evidence of her perfect ear came when Basil was given a line about"
Prunella Scales portrayed Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II on television and earned a Bafta nomination for the latter. She died aged 93 after a seven-decade career that ranged from Lydia Bennet in a 1952 BBC Pride and Prejudice to a cameo in ITV's The Royal (2011). Scales co-starred in the 1975 and 1979 twelve-episode series Fawlty Towers as Sybil Fawlty, a role co-created with John Cleese and Connie Booth. Sybil projected domestic authority and terror, using a Basilisk stare, sharp one-word rebukes like 'Basil!' and elongated gossiping exclamations such as 'Oh, I knoooooow!' Her timing and vocal elasticity made those lines national catchphrases and established the series as a sitcom template.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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