    prunella scales, cbe (born prunella margaret rumney illingworth; 22 june 1932) is an english actress best known for her role as basil fawlty's wife sybil in the bbc comedy fawlty towers and her bafta award-nominated role as queen elizabeth ii in a question of attribution (screen one, bbc 1991) by alan bennett.bafta awards (1992) ==early life== scales was born in sutton abinger, surrey, the daughter of catherine (nÃ©e scales), an actress, and john richardson illingworth, a cotton salesman.prunella scales biography (1932-)british tv stalwart best she attended moira house girls school, eastbourne.school web site ==career== throughout her long career, scales has often been cast in comic roles. her early work included the second uk adaptation of pride and prejudice (1952), hobson's choice (1954), room at the top (1959) and waltz of the toreadors (1962). her career break came with the early 1960s sitcom marriage lines starring opposite richard briers. in addition to fawlty towers, she has had roles in bbc radio 4 sitcoms, and comedy series including after henry, smelling of roses and ladies of letters; on television she starred in the london weekend television/channel 4 series mapp & lucia based on the novels by e. f. benson. she played queen elizabeth ii in alan bennett's a question of attribution. in 1973, scales was cast with ronnie barker in one man's meat which formed part of barker's seven of one series, also for the bbc. her later film appearances include escape from the dark (1976), the hound of the baskervilles (1978), the boys from brazil (1978), the wicked lady (1983), [[the lonely pas
1932_births Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire English_film_actresses English_radio_actresses English_stage_actresses English_television_actresses English_voice_actresses Labour_Party_(UK)_people Living_people People_from_Mole_Valley_(district) People_with_Alzheimer\'s_disease