Dame Penelope Keith, star of The Good Life, dies at 86
Penelope Keith, the actress who brought Margo Leadbetter to life in the BBC sitcom The Good Life, has died at her home in Surrey at 86.
A quiet end in Surrey
Dame Penelope Keith died peacefully at her home in Surrey on Monday, her family said in a statement. She was 86 and had been living with cancer. The family thanked those who cared for her and asked for privacy.
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.
From Shakespeare to Surbiton
Born Penelope Anne Constance Hatfield on 2 April 1940 in Sutton, Surrey, Keith began in regional repertory theatre before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963. She appeared in productions of The Wars of the Roses and later took television roles in Dixon of Dock Green and The Army Game.
In 1975 she was cast as Margo Leadbetter, the snobbish neighbour in the BBC’s The Good Life. The show followed Tom and Barbara Good (Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal), who left the rat race to pursue self-sufficiency in their Surbiton garden. Keith’s Margo, with her clipped vowels and social climbing, became an enduring comic figure. She won a BAFTA for the role in 1977.
To the Manor Born and later years
Keith turned down numerous sitcom scripts before taking the lead in To the Manor Born in 1979. She played Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, a widowed aristocrat forced to sell her estate but remaining in the lodge after a businessman (Peter Bowles) buys the property. The series ran until 1981 and was revived for a one-off special in 2007. Keith enjoyed the physical demands of the part.
I loved it because we had to do all our own stunts. I am a country girl at heart, and I got to ride horses again, to learn about bee keeping, to drive a two-tonne Rolls-Royce with impossible gears; I scaled a five-bar gate with a picnic hamper to flee a bull.
Honours and legacy
Keith won a second BAFTA in 1978 for The Norman Conquests, the televised Alan Ayckbourn trilogy. Her portrayal of Margo Leadbetter made her a household name, with The Good Life remaining a staple of television repeats for decades. In 2014 she was made a dame for services to the arts and charities. She continued to perform into her seventies, earning a lasting place in British television history.
