Biography
Penelope Keith was an English actress best known for her roles as the snobbish suburbanite Margo Leadbetter in the BBC sitcom The Good Life (1975–1978) and as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To the Manor Born (1979–1981). She was born Penelope Anne Constance Hatfield on 2 April 1940 in Sutton, Surrey, and died on 29 June 2026 at her home in Surrey.
Keith trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963. She built a stage career that included Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests (1974), for which she later won a BAFTA, and received an Olivier Award in 1976 for Donkey’s Years. Her performance as Margo earned her a BAFTA for Best Light Entertainment Performance in 1977.
She was appointed DBE in 2014 for services to the arts and charity. Keith also appeared in films including Carry On Doctor (1967) and Secret Ceremony (1968), and in television series such as The Avengers (1961) and Death Comes to Pemberley (2013).
