Renowned actor Timothy West, known for his work on stage and screen including 'Day of the Jackal', passed away last month at the age of 90.
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."
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(Image: Getty))Additionally, the statement thanked NHS staff for their exceptional care: "All of us will miss him terribly. We would like to thank the incredible NHS staff at St George's Hospital, Tooting and at Avery Wandsworth for their loving care during his last 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 celebrated duo met in the early 1960s while working together on the period TV drama She Died Young, and were known for their close bond, often doing crosswords and writing letters to each other between takes when they were younger, as shared by Timothy on Loose Women last year.
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 make each other laugh and make each other find out about things."
The couple got married in 1963, and Timothy chronicled their journey in his book Pru and Me: A Love Story, published last year to commemorate their diamond anniversary. 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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