John Cleese shared heartfelt photos with his late Fawlty Towers co-stars Prunella Scales and Nicky Henson after Scales’ death earlier this week.
Scales, best known for playing Cleese’s character Basil Fawlty’s long-suffering wife Sybil in the BBC comedy, died on Tuesday aged 93 after a long battle with dementia.
Meanwhile, Henson, who played Mr Johnson in Fawlty Towers, died aged 74 in 2019.
Cleese paid tribute to both stars while sharing snaps of the trio laughing together at an event on Instagram on Thursday.
“Two of my best departed Comedy friends,” the Monty Python star wrote alongside the post.
“Pru, who was already a star when I entered Show business, and Nicky Henson, who shared dressing rooms with me on the first day I ever worked for the BBC, in 1966. #prunellascales #nickyhenson.”
The legendary actor also shared a devastating tribute to Scales soon after her death was announced.
“How very sad. Pru was a really wonderful comic actress,” he said in a statement shared with The Standard.
“I've recently been watching a number of clips of Fawlty Towers whilst researching a book. Scene after scene she was absolutely perfect.
“She was a very sweet lady, who spent a lot of her life apologising. I used to tease her about it. I was very, very fond of her.”
Scales died “peacefully at home in London” and had been watching Fawlty Towers the day before she passed away, her sons Samuel and Joseph revealed.
“Although dementia forced her retirement from a remarkable acting career of nearly 70 years, she continued to live at home,” they said in a statement.
“Pru was married to Timothy West for 61 years. He died in November 2024. She is survived by two sons and one stepdaughter, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.”
They concluded: “We would like to thank all those who gave Pru such wonderful care at the end of her life: her last days were comfortable, contented and surrounded by love.”
Scales, who was married to fellow actor West for over 60 years, had been living with Alzheimer’s disease since her diagnosis in 2013.
West spoke openly about his wife’s illness and told Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: “The sad thing is that you just watch the gradual disappearance of the person that you knew and loved and were very close to.
“When we’ve been to a concert, or a play, or a film, there’s nothing very much we can say about it afterwards because Pru will have a fairly hazy memory.”
