Dame Penelope Keith: The Good Life's funny and formidable star

Image source, WireImage via Getty ImagesByRebecca ThomasPublished48 minutes agoDame Penelope Keith was one of Britain's best-loved comedy actresses thanks to her inimitable portrayal of Margo Leadbeatter in 1970s sitcom The Good Life, among other roles. As Margo, the formidable social-climbing snob with a cut-glass voice but a soft interior, Keith ensured her place in the nation's hearts. And her transition to her next comedy hit To the Manor Born, playing true-blue aristocrat Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, felt seamless. The Good Life actress Dame Penelope Keith dies aged 86 Image caption, The Good Life made Penelope Keith a household name Keith starred in several other sitcoms before later fronting shows about her passion for the British countryside. Over a career that began in the late 1950s, Keith also remained devoted to her theatre roots, performing up and down the UK. For her contribution to entertainment, and charity, Keith was rewarded with TV Baftas, an Olivier, an OBE, a CBE and ultimately a damehood in 2014 - not forgetting the rose named in her honour. In an interview with the Daily Mail,, external she summed up her love of making people smile. "Humour is power and a force for good because if you can laugh, particularly at yourself, you are some way to being able to make sense of things," she said. Image source, WPA via Getty ImagesImage caption, Penelope Keith was made a dame for her services to entertainment and charity While Keith's voice contributed to her success, it also gave a false impression of her background. Keith (nee Hatfield) was from relatively humble stock. Born in Sutton, Surrey, in 1940, she grew up in Clapham, south London, in the thick of World War Two. Her mother Connie worked as a hotel child entertainment organiser and was often away, so the young Penelope spent a lot of time with her grandparents. Her father had left when she was very young and Connie later remarried, but although she took his surname, Keith wouldn't talk about him. Aged six, she went to a boarding school run by nuns, where the performing arts and elocution lessons were encouraged. It became the happiest of times for the would-be actress. "I apparently came home from school one day and sat in the bath and said to my mother that when I grow older I was going to be either a nun or an actress," she told chat show host Michael Parkinson in 1977. "She was a bit taken aback and said, 'Darling, nuns can't wear pretty clothes'. So I said, 'Well, I'll be an actress then.'" Image caption, Penelope Keith (second from left) appearing in a production of Pioneers of Social Change in 1962 But out in the "real" world, the 5'10" stature that had landed her lead roles at school became an issue. Top drama school Rada rejected her for being too tall, and although she found a place at the Webber-Douglas acting school, tutors made clear her perceived limitations. "I was very tall and very plain; I think this is where the comedy came from because I wasn't going to get very far on my looks. So I thought I'd better be the 'gag girl'," she told Parkinson. Jobs in repertory theatre and with the Royal Shakespeare Company followed, with her height again leading to mainly supporting roles. But in retrospect, Keith said, it was a great way to learn. "It meant I had a good bash at all the character parts from 19 to 90, so one broadened one's range," she recalled in the 2000 TV tribute Lady of the Manor., external Roles in radio plays and popular TV shows such as The Avengers came her way before she was "spotted" in Thames TV's Hadley. Image source, TV Times via Getty ImagesImage caption, Penelope Keith photographed in her dressing room in 1977 It led to her own series Kate (1970-72), playing a ruthless magazine editor, which prompted tongue-in-cheek headlines including "Penelope, the woman you love to hate" in the TV Times. But the real break came three years later in 1975 with The Good Life,, external the sitcom about suburban neighbours who end up poles apart when one couple ditch their bourgeois lifestyle to become self-sufficient. Initially the Goods, played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal, were the stars. Margo, wife to Jerry Leadbeatter (Paul Eddington), was a peripheral character. Only her voice was heard in the first episode. Image source, Hulton Archive via Getty ImagesImage caption, Morecambe and Wise got Penelope Keith involved in a Cyrano de Bergerac spoof But, said then head of BBC comedy John Howard Davies in Lady of the Manor, , externalKeith's part "grew and grew because she took a very firm grip on the character from the outset". And the more exasperating Margo became, the more the audience wanted. Asked by Parkinson if Margo was a "bitch", Keith said: "She has a heart of gold but says a lot of the things we'd like to say ourselves." The actress said she believed Margo spoke for the "silent majority" - as the character said in the episode Just My Bill. In 1977, Keith enjoyed what tur

Dame Penelope Keith: The Good Life's funny and formidable star

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