Actress Dame Penelope Keith, best known for her roles in the classic 1970s British sitcoms The Good Life and To the Manor Born, has died at the age of 86.
A statement released on Monday on behalf of her family said: “We are deeply saddened to announce that Dame Penelope Keith died peacefully whilst living with cancer at her home in Surrey where she had lived for more than 50 years.
“The family is grateful for the care and support she received throughout her treatments, and ask that their privacy be respected at this time.”
She famously played snobbish suburban neighbour Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life, as well as the widowed aristocrat Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To the Manor Born.
Penelope Keith starred with on-screen husband Paul Eddington in The Good Life
Penelope Keith starred with on-screen husband Paul Eddington in The Good Life
Obituary: The Good Life’s funny and formidable star
Comedian and presenter Sue Perkins led the tributes, praising her on Instagram for having been the “creator of some of the greatest sit com characters of all time”.
Broadcaster Gyles Brandreth said Dame Penelope “was such a special lady – a wonderful actress, a real friend, so funny, so generous with the time she gave to good causes”. He added: “Hers was indeed a good life.”
Former culture secretary Sir Jeremy Hunt posted on X: “Incredibly sad to hear of the passing of Dame Penelope Keith CBE. She was a neighbour and friend where she was dearly loved by all who knew her in Milford.
“She helped Britain laugh at itself, one of our best national qualities, and brought happiness to millions. RIP dear Penny.”
‘Utter genius’
Also paying tribute, novelist Lissa Evans noted the marked difference between Dame Penelope’s characters and her real personality.
“Margo Leadbetter was snobbish, humourless and entitled, and Penelope Keith managed to make her into one of the most adored (and oddly vulnerable) characters ever seen on a sitcom,” Evans posted.
“She delivered every line as if it were a jewelled crown on a velvet cushion. An utter genius.”
The Surrey-born actress joined the Royal Shakespeare company in 1963 and went on to win an Olivier Award for best comedy performance in 1976, for her role in the play Donkey’s Years.
But she became a household name playing Margo in The Good Life from 1975, winning the Bafta TV award for best light entertainment performance in 1977.
The show followed Tom and Barbara Good, played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal, in their attempts to become self-sufficient by turning their suburban garden into an allotment and keeping animals – much to Margo’s horror.
The show was voted one of the UK’s top 10 sitcoms of all-time in a 2004 BBC poll.
She was made a dame in 2014 for services to the arts and charity
She was made a dame in 2014 for services to the arts and charity
The actress followed that by playing aristocrat Audrey, who was forced to sell her country estate following the death of her husband in To the Manor Born.
The last episode of the first series in 1979 received almost 24 million viewers – the highest audience for any non-live event on British TV in the 70s.
Dame Penelope won another Bafta TV award soon after, this time for best actress for The Norman Conquests and Saving It For Albie.
Her other sitcom credits in the 1980s and 90s included Executive Stress, No Job for a Lady and Next of Kin.
The much-loved actress succeeded Laurence Olivier as president of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund after his death in 1989.
This century, working largely in theatre, she played Madame Arcati in a 2004 production of Blithe Spirit and Lady Bracknell in a 2007 version of The Importance of Being Earnest.
She was a made a dame in 2014 for services to the arts and charity.
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Dame Penelope Keith: The Good Life’s funny and formidable star
