Prunella Scales ‘not well enough to understand’ death of husband Timothy West

At the age of 90, renowned actor Timothy West, whose credits include “Day of the Jackal,” “On the Run” and “On the Edge,” passed away last month.

His wife, Prunella Scales, famed for her role in Fawlty Towers, suffers from dementia and according to their son Samuel, she is “not well enough” to comprehend the loss of her husband. West, who also cared for Prunella during his life, died “peacefully in his sleep” on November 12.

The beloved actor’s passing was announced by his agent and his three offspring, Samuel, Juliet, and Joseph, through a statement which said: “After a long and extraordinary life on and off the stage, our darling father Timothy West died peacefully in his sleep yesterday evening. He was 90 years old”.

Further, it noted: “Tim was with friends and family at the end. He leaves his wife Prunella Scales, to whom he was married for 61 years, a sister, a daughter, two sons, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren”.

Additionally, the statement thanked NHS staff for their exceptional care: “All of us will miss him terribly. We would like to express our gratitude to the amazing NHS staff at St. George’s Hospital, Tooting, and Avery Wandsworth for their compassionate care of his final days.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Samuel said about his mother, now 92, “All I am going to say is she’s not really well enough to take it all in”., reports the Express. The famous duo first met in the early 1960s while co-producing the period TV show She Died Young. They shared a story on Loose Women last year and frequently exchanged letters and crossword puzzles while they were younger.

When discussing their letter-writing tradition, he once mentioned: “We love writing letters about something that the other person might have missed or not quite understood. We would talk to one another about things and make each other laugh.

In his book Pru and Me: A Love Story, which was released last year to honor their diamond anniversary, Timothy chronicled their union in 1963. However, their lives took a significant turn in 2014 when Prunella was formally diagnosed with vascular dementia, a condition that affects memory, thinking, and behaviour.

In a BBC interview last year, Timothy recounted the doctor’s words during the diagnosis: “We went to see a specialist who said, ‘ Sorry, this is just something which happens to you when you are older and it’s not going to get any easier, but you can cope with it. Don’t let it get you down. ‘”.

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Source: Mirror