Prunella Scales

“Contrary to popular belief, actors are extremely supportive of each other.”

“I'm of a generation that doesn't expect automatic happiness, so I feel incredibly lucky.”

“It breaks my heart to hear of our theatres struggling to survive. As well as playing a vital role in community life, they're guardians of our heritage and should be cherished.”

“A good actor just wants to deliver the writing to the audience who've paid that night. There's an agonising desire to get it right.”

“In 1940 my mum took a job as under-matron at her old school, which had been evacuated from Eastbourne to Windermere; I got a bursary and spent eight years as a boarder. It was a smashing education; I regret being at a single-sex school, but I had a brother, so knew what guys were.”

“Everyone said how brilliant of Tom Conti to be in bed in 'Whose Life Is it Anyway?' and only have his head to act with. He should be so bloody lucky. I'm not for a moment disputing that Tom Conti is an absolutely brilliant actor. But he should be so lucky to be stuck upstage in the spotlight, with everyone focused on him.”

“I've got very little grey hair. It's to do with the genes. My mother and father were the same.”

“It doesn't matter what people think about you, so long as they get the play through your performance. Only a few not very good actors go in for self-advertisement.”

“I have worked for Tesco and am grateful to them but in principle I believe in individual shops.”

“My elder son and his wife keep bees, and my younger son has bees, too.”

“I feel very grateful for Sybil. 'Fawlty Towers' was very hard to make, but it was very stimulating.”

“I shouldn't be surprised if John Cleese's scripts don't become set texts for examinations-they're classics. And I can't tell you how service in English hotels has improved since 'Fawlty Towers.'”

“I've always been fascinated by dialects and accents. In fact, I've rarely played straight English parts. I play character parts - and always will.”

“My mother and father were lovely parents, always quite hard up, but very hard-working.”

“In my extreme youth I did a terrifying diet - drinking 40 cups of liquid a day.”

“I'd love to play Constance in 'King John' or Paulina in 'The Winter's Tale.' I'd like to go on working till I drop.”

“In 1954 I was on Broadway for five months in 'The Matchmaker' and went once a week to the classes of Uta Hagen, a theatrical guru whose teaching in retrospect illuminated the whole of my training at the Old Vic.”

“It's strange how 'Fawlty' has become a perennial. I keep meeting new generations of schoolboys who know the lines better than I did when I said them. The program has sensational sales in video. I'm mercifully on a small percentage.”

“I had quite a healthy childhood in the countryside, but I did have double pneumonia aged eight, and was one of the first patients to be given antibiotics.”

“I think local shopping areas and markets are terribly important, both for tradespeople and the local feeling of an area.”