Veteran actor Timothy West was a carer to his wife Prunella Scales in the final years of his life.
The Dad's Army and EastEnders star has passed away at the age of 90. In a statement issued by his agent, his children Juliet, Samuel and Joseph West said: “After a long and extraordinary life on and off the stage, our darling father Timothy West died peacefully in his sleep yesterday evening."
But behind the scenes, the actor had been caring for his wife of 61 years for two decades, after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. Best known as Sybil in Fawlty Towers, Timothy recalled in a 2019 interview how he watched "the gradual disappearance of the person that you knew and loved and were very close to."
And he spoke of his heartbreak at the thought of selling their beloved home in south-west London, where they raised their family together. At the time he revealed he wanted to stay there until Pru - who is still alive - passed away.
Image:
Getty Images)He told the Daily Mail: "I don't want to go to my grave thinking: 'What's happening to our house?' I don't want it going to somebody who's going to say: 'Oh, let's get rid of all this silly Morris wallpaper and we can use that front garden as space for an extra car.
"In theory, it's silly — I know it's only a house — but it's part of us. Pru loves the house and especially the garden. She wants to stay here until the end."
Tim first noticed something was wrong with Pru more than 20 years ago while watching his wife in a play. He said that she didn't forget her lines or say them wrong, but he "couldn't see her thinking." But it was still some time before he realised what was really going on and the family got a diagnosis.
Alzheimer's Disease affects every sufferer differently, but common symptoms can include repetition, confusion, mood swings, language difficulties and memory loss in the long and short term. But instead of retreating from the world when Pru was diagnosed with the cruel illness, they carried on as normal.
She even worked for another decade, but focused more on voiceovers, with barely any script to remember. Then in 2013, the went on a canal boat trip to celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary and ended up landing Channel 4 show Great Canal Journeys.
"We thought it would be seen by some old ladies on a wet Tuesday afternoon, but somehow it caught on,' Tim told the Sunday Times. And it turned out it was perfect for Pru's condition. Tim added: "You can just keep your mind vacant, enjoy things as they happen. It's perfect for her."
Though Tim still enjoyed times with his wife, instead of chatting away about everything and anything as they once would, their once joyful banter no longer insisted and more often than not they would sit in silence. Pru's memory also faded.
Tim said of his beloved wife: "It's hard. We used to spark off each other, but now Pru's hearing has got very selective," he told the Sunday Times. "They've invested in endless high-tech hearing devices, but he suspects the problem is more her not being able to answer, rather than not hearing. So we can't talk about things,' he says. 'I miss it, and it's not good for me either — my own reasoning is getting less good."
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