ACTOR

Prunella Scales

1932 - 2025

Photo of Prunella Scales

Icon of person Prunella Scales

Prunella Margaret Rumney West (née Illingworth; 22 June 1932 – 27 October 2025), known professionally as Prunella Scales, was an English actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Sybil Fawlty in the BBC television sitcom Fawlty Towers (1975–1979) and 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 TV documentary series Great Canal Journeys (2014–2019), travelling waterways in the UK and abroad with her husband, the actor Timothy West. Read more on Wikipedia

Her biography is available in 21 different languages on Wikipedia. Prunella Scales is the 6,832nd most popular actor (down from 6,546th in 2024), the 5,142nd most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 4,812th in 2019) and the 766th most popular British Actor.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Prunella Scales by language

Loading...

Among ACTORS

Among actors, Prunella Scales ranks 6,832 out of 13,578Before her are Juliana Paes, Laurent Lafitte, Sam Bottoms, Mark Feuerstein, Soumitra Chatterjee, and Adriana Ozores. After her are Seohyun, George E. Stone, Marie Prevost, Kaitlin Olson, Pearl Bailey, and Heiner Lauterbach.

Most Popular Actors in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1932, Prunella Scales ranks 500Before her are Barbara Shelley, Judy Tyler, Inga Swenson, Abby Dalton, Sheree North, and Roger Smith. After her are Lou Jones, Mike Hodges, Anatoli Isayev, Poul Pedersen, Djibril Tamsir Niane, and Kiril Rakarov. Among people deceased in 2025, Prunella Scales ranks 394Before her are George Ryan, Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Theresa Kachindamoto, José Manuel Ochotorena, Bianca Maria Piccinino, and Munyoro Nyamau. After her are Yu Menglong, Freddie Aguilar, Sheila Jordan, Peter Rufai, Ken Dryden, and Jorge Bolaño.

Others Born in 1932

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 2025

Go to all Rankings

In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Prunella Scales ranks 5,144 out of 8,785Before her are Lucy Morton (1898), Annie Lorrain Smith (1854), Philip Hall (1904), Martin Taylor (1979), Dora Marsden (1882), and Harry Ricardo (1885). After her are Stella Gibbons (1902), Ron Greenwood (1921), Ian Raby (1921), William Dod (1867), Emilia Lanier (1569), and Mina Loy (1882).

Among ACTORS In United Kingdom

Among actors born in United Kingdom, Prunella Scales ranks 766Before her are Robert Webb (1972), Mary Millar (1936), Ann Sidney (1944), Gertrude Lawrence (1898), Pamela Brown (1917), and Stephanie Beacham (1947). After her are Juliet Stevenson (1956), Simone Ashley (1995), Heather Angel (1909), Gina McKee (1964), Dawn French (1957), and Jason Watkins (1962).