Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (née Illingworth; 22 June 1932 – 27 October 2025) was an English actress, best known for her portrayal of Sybil Fawlty in the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers and for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in Alan Bennett’s A Question of Attribution (1991), which earned her a BAFTA nomination. She later appeared in the documentary series Great Canal Journeys (2014–2019), travelling waterways in the UK and elsewhere with her husband, actor Timothy West.

Early life and education
Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales[1][2] was born on 22 June 1932, in Sutton Abinger, Surrey,[3] the daughter of John Richardson Illingworth, a cotton salesman who served as a lieutenant with the Wiltshire Regiment in the First World War,[4] and with the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps in the Second World War,[5][6] and Catherine, née Scales, known as "Bim", an actress who had for a time attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and was later with the Liverpool Playhouse's Repertory Company.[7][8][9][10] Scales had a younger brother, Timothy "Timmo" Illingworth (1934–2017), who became a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Irish Rangers and was appointed an an OBE in the 1984 New Year Honours .[8][11]

In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Scales's parents moved with their children to Bucks Mills near Bideford in Devon. In 1942, Scales was awarded a scholarship to Moira House School which had been evacuated from Eastbourne to a hotel on Lake Windermere in the Lake District; her mother and brother accompanied her. Scales carried on her schooling when Moira House returned to Eastbourne.[12]

She was awarded a scholarship for the two-year course at the Old Vic Theatre School in 1949; Moira House School had wished her to apply to Oxbridge.[13]