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British actress Prunella Scales, best known for her role as the sharp-tongued Sybil Fawlty in the beloved sitcom \u201cFawlty Towers,\u201d has died peacefully at her home in London. She was 93.<\/p>\n
Her sons, Samuel and Joseph, confirmed her death through the U.K.\u2019s PA Media news agency, saying she passed away on Monday after spending her final days \u201ccomfortable, contented and surrounded by love.\u201d They shared that Scales had been watching episodes of \u201cFawlty Towers\u201d the day before she died.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would like to thank all those who gave Pru such wonderful care at the end of her life,\u201d the family said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scales was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013, which led to her retirement from acting after a career spanning nearly seven decades, according to PEOPLE<\/a>.<\/p>\n John Cleese, who co-created \u201cFawlty Towers\u201d and starred as her on-screen husband Basil Fawlty, paid tribute in a statement to the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cScene after scene she was absolutely perfect,\u201d said Cleese, 86. \u201cShe was a very sweet lady, who spent a lot of her life apologizing. I used to tease her about it. I was very, very fond of her.\u201d<\/p>\n Born in Surrey, England, in 1932, Scales began her theater career as an assistant stage manager in 1951. Her first major television role came in the 1960s sitcom \u201cThe Marriage Lines,\u201d before achieving international fame in Fawlty Towers, which aired just 12 episodes between 1975 and 1979. In 2000, the British Film Institute named the series the greatest British TV program of all time.<\/p>\n