The real-life inspiration for Sybil Fawlty, Basil's redoubtable wife in the sitcom Fawlty Towers, has died aged 95.

Beatrice Sinclair ran the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay with her husband, Donald – who became the template for Basil.

John Cleese, co-writer of the television series, came upon the couple in 1971 when he was in the area filming Monty Python's Flying Circus. He and other members of the team were booked in to the hotel and were amazed at the chilly greeting they received.

Cleese later said Donald Sinclair was "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met", and described Beatrice as domineering. Other Pythons quickly checked out but Cleese stayed on and later created one of Britain's most beloved sitcoms with Connie Booth.

Beatrice, who died in a care home in Torquay last Monday, declined to talk about the comedy sitcom for 30 years. When she did, she said it was not a fair portrayal of herself or her husband, a retired naval officer.

Brian Shone, who now runs the Gleneagles hotel, today paid tribute to Beatrice, describing her as "a very, very nice lady".

The hotel runs Fawlty Towers-themed events but Shone said Beatrice did not want anything to do with the sitcom. "She really did not want to go in the Fawlty Towers direction at all. It was a case of, 'you get on with it'."

Rather like Sybil Fawlty, played by Prunella Scales, Beatrice was seen as the driving force behind the business. She founded the hotel, while her husband, who was torpedoed three times during his military career, was away at sea.

The couple later worked together. Shone said: "From what I heard she was the person who drove the business and she was the strong one. Whenever she told Donald what to do he would say 'yes dear'."

Donald Sinclair died in 1981 and after the hotel changed hands, Beatrice objected to plans to demolish the building, saying Torbay could ill afford to lose a prime hotel.

Other members of the Python team have recalled their time at Gleneagles. Eric Idle returned to the hotel to find his bag had been removed and hidden behind a distant wall in the garden. Donald Sinclair apparently told him they thought it might be a bomb. Idle asked: "Why would anyone want to bomb your hotel?" To which Donald replied: "We've had a lot of staff problems lately."

Michael Palin recalled that he "seemed to view us as a colossal inconvenience", and Beatrice threatened them with a bill for a stay of two weeks even though they had checked out quite quickly. "But off we went with lighter hearts," Palin added.

The legacy lives on. Japanese, Australian and German tourists continue to stop and take photographs of the hotel.

Once a month the hotel stages a Fawlty Towers weekend where guests are looked after by actors playing the parts of Basil, Sybil, and the Spanish waiter, Manuel.