Actor’s career long and distinguished

Press, 11 December 1989, Page 11

Actor’s career long and distinguished

Prunella Scales insists that the only similarity between herself and the efficient but bossy Sybil Fawlty is the fact that they’re both women. Sybil in “Fawlty Towers” (tonight at 7.30 p.m. on One), is just one of many colourful characters that she has played in her long and distinguished career. She was born in Surrey, England with acting in her blood. “My mother, Catherine Scales, was an actor until she married. My father was an Army man and travelled to different postings, so she gave it up. But I think she always remained rather starry-eyed and hankered after it for the rest of her life. “That’s probably why she encouraged me— and when I won a scholarship at school, I went straight to drama school.” The gypsy life of an Army child proved an excellent training ground for the budding actor. “Because we travelled a lot with my father. I had the opportunity of pick-ing-up loads of local dialects,” she recalls. “Even in Devon, we had London refugees, so I can handle cockney all right.” She studied acting at the Old Vic Theatre School and the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York and made her debut in television in the play, ‘Pride and Prejudice,” with Peter Cushing, Daphne Slater and Lockwood West. She has since appeared

in a multitude of television shows including “Bergerac” and “Never the Twain.” Her film credits include “Hound of the Baskervilles” and “Boys from Brazil” and she has made an impact on the stage as well, particularly in her one-woman show, “An evening with Queen Victoria.” She says her favourite place is "the English canals, where there are no telephones or television.” That also sounds like miles from Torquay and the disasters that occur each week at the Fawlty Towers Private Hotel. On this subject, Prunella gives the final word on Sybil. “She has a vulgar streak which never fails to irritate Basil, and his frustration is. heightened further by Sybil’s ability to cope with situations he can’t handle.”