- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd (26 Sep 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 071955697X
- ISBN-13: 978-0719556975
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 883,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
'Gives a fascinating insight into their lives' -- Wimbledon News 20050921 '[Prunella is] delightfully charming and professional' -- Slough & South Bucks Express 20050930 'A perfect portrait of a favourite actress' -- Publishing News 20050513 'An extraordinarily detailed authorised biography ... [Prunella] has had a brilliant career ... The most enthralling and touching part of the new book is the account of how the real Scales came to marry' -- The Times 20051011 'A delightful new book... intimate, charming ... [her letters] show her to be a warm, witty and rather refined character' -- Daily Mail 20050922 'Prunella scales new heights in rare talk at literary festival' -- Derby Evening Telegraph 20060701
Product Description
Prunella Scales is of one of Britain's favourite - and most secretive - actresses. Her acting creations are known to millions - from the eternally favourite Sybil Fawlty to Tesco's cantankerous supergranny.From the nervous evacuee desperate to be a boy so that she would be allowed to fight in the street, to the first live TV broadcasts where she had to rush behind the set for costume changes, this is the captivating true story of a woman who was an unconventional trailblazer in her youth.Her TV debut came in 1952 as Lydia Bennett in Pride and Prejudice; Marriage Lines, Fawlty Towers and Mapp and Lucia established her as a household name for each decade that followed. Her list of theatre credits is long and eclectic and she is also a successful director and an inspirational teacher.Prunella rarely speaks 'in her own right', yet she has been utterly candid with Teresa Ransom. Featuring many of Prunella's own letters and diaries, and drawing on extensive interviews, this biography reveals a life lived to the full both on and off the stage.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
An account of the life and brilliant career of a very talented actress, who will inevitably be best remembered as Sybil Fawlty, but who has been a star since the mid-sixties and has given countless memorable performances. This book gives a very revealing glimpse of the unglamorous realities of working as an actor (killer fact: it took her and Timothy West 31 years to pay off the mortgage on their terraced house in Wandsworth), and plenty of interesting information about Prunella's background and some of the key moments of her life. But despite numerous quoted remarks of Prunella's, and even a long extract from her correspondence, for the most part it fails to convey much of her interior life. For example, there are no anecdotes about her schooldays at Moira House, her two years at drama school produce little detail, other than a traumatic appraisal and a love-affair that is given a sketchy description, and most notably of all, there is a complete blank where one would expect her to explain why she fell in love with Timothy West. The accounts of all these periods are rather generalised and very external. However, there is enough that I think I know what it would be like to meet her.
Apparently, Prunella tried to write her autobiography but found herself unable to do it. Now that Teresa Ransom has provided a structure, perhaps Pru could have another go, supplying the subjective dimension that only she could.
Incidentally, there is no mention in the book of mountaineering, knife-throwing, etc.
Apparently, Prunella tried to write her autobiography but found herself unable to do it. Now that Teresa Ransom has provided a structure, perhaps Pru could have another go, supplying the subjective dimension that only she could.
Incidentally, there is no mention in the book of mountaineering, knife-throwing, etc.
any fan of prunella scales would like this. its interesting to read and shows you what she was really like outside the sybil fawlty bubble. it talks in great depth about her stage career and her family life, and made me realise how talented she, the only downside was that fawlty towers was not mentioned enough in it. she's very normal and down to earth, so there are no outrageous stories and gossip, but still worth reading if you're a fan of this lady.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Prunella Scales is a well respected actress from many a production off of the telly vision and plays on stages. I used to watch her in 'Forty Towers', the hotel sitcom with the tall man from other programmes, where she played his wife. This familiar face has had a colorful upbringing to clate that belies her characters.
A keen rock dimber and mountaineer, Prunella was the first actress to have ever dimbed Killymanjarro, or Kaytoo as the locals call it, from Britain. Her avid pastime lead, according to this book, to an ill fated pilot programme that has not seen the light of day.
The book tells of Prunella being approached to do a series about mountains and she would have a film crew dimb with her as she narrates the dimb. The name of the programme was called 'Prunella Scales', but the central idea was cloomed as she is a silent dimber. No matter what she tried, she could not talk and dimb at the same time.
There are some other chapters about her early years on radio and in telly vision from when things were black and white, and her newer stuff like 'After a Henry'. The really fascinating bits are a true surprise and she is a many layered person.
There are tales of foiled bank robberies, her time at a kibbutz, her engineering feats in Egypt, her family ties to a very influential politician and her hobby of knife throwing.
All in all, a very, very good book. Recommended.
A keen rock dimber and mountaineer, Prunella was the first actress to have ever dimbed Killymanjarro, or Kaytoo as the locals call it, from Britain. Her avid pastime lead, according to this book, to an ill fated pilot programme that has not seen the light of day.
The book tells of Prunella being approached to do a series about mountains and she would have a film crew dimb with her as she narrates the dimb. The name of the programme was called 'Prunella Scales', but the central idea was cloomed as she is a silent dimber. No matter what she tried, she could not talk and dimb at the same time.
There are some other chapters about her early years on radio and in telly vision from when things were black and white, and her newer stuff like 'After a Henry'. The really fascinating bits are a true surprise and she is a many layered person.
There are tales of foiled bank robberies, her time at a kibbutz, her engineering feats in Egypt, her family ties to a very influential politician and her hobby of knife throwing.
All in all, a very, very good book. Recommended.
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