Sad news in the world of farcical hotel management: Prunella Scales, who played Sybil Fawlty on Fawlty Towers has passed away at the age of 93.
In a statement, Scales’ co-star, and the co-author of the series, John Cleese called the news “very sad,” noting that “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.”
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“She was a very sweet lady, who spent a lot of her life apologizing,” he added. “I used to tease her about it. I was very, very fond of her.”
While Cleese’s wildly unhinged Basil Fawlty may have been the loudest part of the show, his comic antics simply wouldn’t have worked without the stellar supporting cast, including Scales. Her take on Sybil grounded each episode, fleshing out the routinely fraught marital relationship that was so pivotal to Fawlty Towers.
Thanks to the perspective offered by the show’s co-writer Connie Booth, who would point out that “a woman wouldn’t say that” in response to some of Cleese’s lines for Sybil, the character largely avoided being portrayed as a two-dimensional nagging wife. If anything, we sympathize with Sybil more than any other character because she so frequently had to put up with Basil’s nonsense. And she was often the only one capable of correcting his ridiculous mistakes.
Scales’ performance also gave us hints about where this woman came from, and how falling in love with a man her parents didn’t approve of led her to a not-so-glamorous life in the Torquay service industry.
In the 2009 documentary Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened, Scales revealed that one of her favorite moments from the show was when Sybil actually walked out on Basil. In Season Two’s “The Anniversary,” Basil arranges for a surprise party for Sybil, inviting some friends to the hotel to celebrate their wedding anniversary. But she mistakenly thinks that he’s forgotten all about it and takes off. So Basil enlists Polly to impersonate his wife, and pretend to be sick in bed. When the real Sybil returns and confronts Basil, announcing her intentions to separate, Basil tries to shoo her away, because he would rather torpedo his marriage than suffer any kind of embarrassment.
“I think the scene I look back on with great fondness is when they’ve had a fight and she’s sort of trying to make it up,” Scales explained. “And you realize that actually she’s emotionally quite dependent on him.”
Cleese called the scene an “extraordinarily sad moment where you see Sybil’s vulnerability” because “she’s trying to establish connection with Basil,” and he couldn’t care less.
Scales’ passing is yet another reason why Cleese’s planned reboot should never be spoken about ever again.
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