Prunella Scales, who died at the age of 93, was regarded as among Britain's most brilliant comic actors.
Although a long and distinguished career on stage and screen, she will inevitably be remembered as the unforgettable Sybil Fawlty in the classic 1970s television series, Fawlty Towers.
It was Sybil's mission throughout her existence to closely monitor her husband Basil described as a "stick insect" - portrayed by John Cleese - amid cigarette-fuelled phone conversations with her companion Audrey.
She was tasked to calm visitors who had been yelled at, completely overlooked or, in some cases, throttled by Basil when in one of his more manic moods.
Her nightmarish laugh, extraordinary hairstyle and intense anger were part of a carefully constructed character that ranks as a humorous triumph.
Although many actors would have removed themselves from too close an association with a single role, Scales consistently voiced her pleasure in having been part of the Fawlty Towers phenomenon.
Formative Years and Professional Start
Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth was born near Guildford on June 22nd, 1932.
She belonged to a household profoundly passionate about theatrical arts - with her mother, Bim Scales, an ex-actress who'd abandoned her career for marriage and children.
Bright and bookish, after wartime evacuation to England's Lake District, Prunella studied at Moira House Girls School in Eastbourne.
During 1949, she earned a scholarship to the Old Vic Theatre School and - two years later - obtained a role as an assistant stage manager.
This was to the fury of her previous school principal in her hometown, who had wished she would seek admission to Cambridge University and sent correspondence to the theater to express this opinion.
At drama school, Scales was perceived as a developing character performer rather than an obvious Juliet.
"We all wanted to look like Audrey Hepburn," she later told her biographer, "but I wasn't attractive and nobody fancied me."
Young Prunella also hid her middle-class roots, aware that producers started seeking a new kind of earthy credibility in their actors.
But she started picking up small roles in plays, and, while rehearsing for a part at Worthing's Connaught Theatre, she met Andrew Sachs, who would later star as Manuel, the Spanish waiter, in the famous series.
There was an early television appearance in the year 1952, as Lydia Bennet in a BBC production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which featured actor Peter Cushing - better known for his roles in horror movies - as Mr. Darcy.
And her first big screen roles followed the next year - in romantic comedy, Laxdale Hall, and David Lean's Hobson's Choice, opposite the renowned Charles Laughton.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, she was rarely out of work - appearing on stage, film and television, including a brief stint as a bus conductor, character Eileen Hughes, in Coronation Street.
She additionally encountered colleague Timothy West.
After what Prunella described as "a mild Times crossword and Polo mints flirtation", they got together, and wed in 1963.
Breakthrough and Iconic Roles
Her big TV break came with Marriage Lines, a comedy program about a newly married couple, the Starling couple.
Scales performed alongside actor Richard Briers, then one of the biggest stars in television comedy. The show proved hugely popular and ran for five years.
Subsequently arrived Fawlty Towers, which propelled her to iconic status.
John Cleese and his spouse at the time, Connie Booth, had presented the initial screenplay of Fawlty Towers to the broadcasting corporation.
Actress Bridget Turner had been considered for the Sybil role but she had turned it down and Scales auditioned for the role.
She subsequently recalled that Cleese maintained high standards.
"John, appropriately, demanded strict script adherence, and failure to comply would understandably provoke his irritation."
Only 12 episodes were ultimately produced.
The initial season, which debuted in 1975, failed to win huge audiences but, as it continued, its comedic combination of absurd pratfalls and awkward circumstances grew in popularity.
Scales thought hard about how to play Sybil Fawlty, and determined that her social background had to be inferior to Basil's social standing.
Initially, the creators were unsure about the treatment.
"Once they heard the first reading in rehearsal," Scales remembered, "they were sold on the idea."
In subsequent years, she frequently found herself, requested to portray stern matriarchs when she hankered after elegant characters.
However when questioned about what she thought was the high point, Scales had no hesitation in picking Sybil Fawlty.
"It was a tough job," she maintained, "but I'm still proud of it." She even thought it assisted in bringing audience members into performance venues.
"I believe that audience familiarity with one performance encourages attendance at others," she expressed.
Later Career and Personal Life
After Fawlty Towers, Scales maintained her career in television, including a stint as character Elizabeth Mapp in ITV's Mapp and Lucia.
Her vocal talents were frequently featured on radio, notably the BBC Radio 4 sitcom, which subsequently transferred to television, and the series Ladies of Letters, with Patricia Routledge, which became an intrinsic part of Woman's Hour.
Scales performed two significant royal characters; as Queen Elizabeth II in the television drama of Alan Bennett's work, and as Queen Victoria in a one-woman show that she performed 400 times.
She obtained correspondence from a royal protection officer who confessed that when Scales appeared, he stood up.
"It was a knee-jerk reaction," she clarified. "The experience delighted me."
During 1995, she started appearing as Dotty Turnbull in a series of TV adverts for supermarket giant Tesco - which paid her partly in vouchers.
The campaign, which continued for nine years, was cited as the biggest factor in propelling it to market leadership in the mid-nineties.
Scales subsequently faced some gentle criticism for taking part in the Tesco adverts, when she supported an initiative to prevent neighborhood store closures in her London community.
Among her most accomplished roles appeared in Breaking the Code, the film about World War II cryptanalysts.
She portrays the mother of Alan Turing, who represents a culture that criminalized same-sex relationships, an attitude that eventually led to his death.
Beyond performance, {Scales was
