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Penelope Anne Constance Keith OBE (born Penelope Hatfield on 2 April 1940) is an English actress who is best known for her roles in The Good Life and To the Manor Born, and has also had a long career on stage.
Early life
Penelope Hatfield was born in Sutton, Surrey in 1940. Her father, who was a Major by the end of the war, left her mother Connie when she was a baby, and she spent her early years in Clacton-on-Sea and Clapham. At the age of six she was sent to a Catholic boarding school in Seaford, Sussex, and it was here she first became interested in acting, and she and mother would frequently go to matinees in the West End. When she was eight years old, her mother remarried and Penelope adopted her stepfather's surname of Keith. While she didn't get on with her stepfather, her mother was a "rock of love" to her. Keith was rejected from the Central School of Speech and Drama, on the grounds that, at 5'10", she was too tall. However, she was then accepted at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, and spent two years there while working at the Hyde Park Hotel in the evening. .
Like many aspiring actors and actresses of the time, she started her career in working in rep across the UK, including Lincoln, Manchester and Salisbury. Keith's earliest appearances were in The Tunnel of Love, Gigi and Flowering Cherry. In 1963, she joined both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Aldwych Theatre.
Television
Keith started her television career in programmes such as The Army Game, Dixon of Dock Green, Wild, Wild Women and The Avengers. In the early 1970s, she appeared in The Morecambe & Wise Show, Ghost Story and The Pallisers. Her film appearances during this time included Every Home Should Have One, Take A Girl Like You, Rentadick and Penny Gold. In 1967, she had a minor role in Carry On Doctor, but the scene appears to have been cut from the final edit.
Penelope Keith made her name in 1975 when the BBC sitcom The Good Life began. In the first episode she was only heard and not seen in her role as Margo Leadbetter, but as the episodes and series went on she got a bigger role. Following the success of The Good Life, each of the four main stars were given their own programme, and from 1979 to 1981 she played Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To the Manor Born. Both characters shared similar characteristics, both being generally likeable, upper-class ladies.
Following To the Manor Born, Keith has appeared in four other sitcoms as the main lead, Moving, Executive Stress, Law and Disorder, and No Job for a Lady. However, none matched the success of The Good Life or To the Manor Born. She has also had roles in The Norman Conquests, The Spider's Web and Next of Kin. Her most recent role was opposite June Brown in Margery and Gladys.
Awards
Penelope Keith has won two BAFTA awards, firstly 'Best Comedy Performer' for The Good Life in 1977 and then Best Actress the following year for The Norman Conquests. In 1984, she had a rose named after her and in 1989 she was made an OBE.
Other work
Her best known theatre appearance, in 1974, was playing Sarah in The Norman Conquests, opposite her The Good Life co-star Richard Briers. She has regularly appeared on stage across the country, including a role in Noel Coward's Star Quality and in 2004 played Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit at the Savoy Theatre.
Penelope Keith has also done voice work, and has voiced many adverts including ones for Pimm's, Lurpack, Tesco and most famously, The Parker Pen Company, which was named one of the 100 Greatest Adverts in a Channel 4 programme. In 1997, she provided voices for Teletubbies, and also starred in the radio adaptations of To the Manor Born.
Personal life
In 1978, she married Rodney Timson, a former policeman. They adopted two brothers in 1988. . She and her husband live in Milford, Surrey, and she has a great passion for gardening.
She has been President of the Actors' Benevolent Fund since 1990, taking over after the death of Lord Olivier. On 2 April 2002, she began a one-year term as High Sheriff of Surrey, being only the third woman to hold the post.
Footnotes
External links
sv:Penelope Keith
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