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Dame Penelope Keith, the British actress best known for her roles in sitcoms such as “To the Manor Born” and “The Good Life,” has died at the age of 86.
The BBC reported the news, sharing a statement from Keith’s family indicating she passed away after a long battle with cancer:
“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.”
Keith began her career in 1963 when she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and acted on stage. It was over a decade later, though, when she became a household name for her BAFTA award-winning roles in the aforementioned two sitcoms.
In “The Good Life,” she was the snobbish neighbor Margo Leadbetter, and the series was voted one of the U.K.’s best all-time sitcoms in a BBC poll.
Arguably her most famous work was playing skint aristocrat Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton in “To the Manor Born” that will long be remembered. The series scored a record-breaking 24 million viewers in its first season finale.
She also won an Olivier Award for best comedy performance in 1976 for “Donkey’s Years” and appeared on shows like “The Avengers,” “Jackanory,” “Law and Disorder,” “No Job for a Lady,” “Executive Stress” and “Next of Kin”. Her last major screen role was a single episode stint on “Death Comes to Pemberley” in 2013.
Source: BBC
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