1. Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms The Good Life and To the Manor Born.
31 Facts About Penelope Keith
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Penelope Keith succeeded Lord Olivier as president of the Actors' Benevolent Fund after his death in 1989, and was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to the arts and to charity.
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Penelope Keith became a household name in the UK playing Margo Leadbetter in the sitcom The Good Life, winning the 1977 BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance.
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In 1978 Penelope Keith won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for The Norman Conquests.
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Penelope Keith then starred as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in the sitcom To the Manor Born, a show that received audiences of more than 20 million.
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Penelope Keith went on to star in another six sitcoms, including Executive Stress, No Job for a Lady and Next of Kin.
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Penelope Keith Anne Constance Hatfield was born in Sutton, Surrey in 1940.
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Penelope Keith's father, an army officer who was a Major by the end of the Second World War, left her mother, Connie, when Keith was a baby, and she spent her early years in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex and Clapham, south London.
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Penelope Keith began her career working in repertory theatre around Britain, including Lincoln, Manchester, and Salisbury.
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Penelope Keith began her television career in programmes such as The Army Game, Dixon of Dock Green, Wild, Wild Women and The Avengers.
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Penelope Keith appeared as a nurse in A Touch of Love 1969.
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Penelope Keith's best known theatre appearance, in 1974, was playing Sarah in The Norman Conquests, alongside Felicity Kendal, her co-star in The Good Life.
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In 1977 Penelope Keith starred in Brian Sibley's comedy radio broadcast titled.
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Penelope Keith achieved popular fame in 1975 when the BBC sitcom The Good Life began.
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In 1977, Penelope Keith won a BAFTA award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" for her role of Margo Leadbetter.
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Penelope Keith had the starring role in a TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's play Spider's Web.
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Penelope Keith won a second BAFTA award as "Best Actress" in 1978 for The Norman Conquests.
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In 1982 Penelope Keith starred in a TV production of Frederick Lonsdale's On Approval.
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Penelope Keith had a featured role in the 1998 ITV serial Coming Home.
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Penelope Keith has regularly appeared on stage, taking the classics and new plays across the UK.
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Penelope Keith played Lorraine in Noel Coward's Star Quality, while in 2004 she played Madame Arcati in Coward's Blithe Spirit at the Savoy Theatre.
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Penelope Keith has voiced adverts including ones for Pimm's, Lurpak, Tesco and most famously, The Parker Pen Company, which was named one of the 100 Greatest Adverts in a Channel 4 programme.
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In 2007, she starred in a one-off To the Manor Born Christmas Special, Penelope Keith voiced The Bear with Brown Fuzzy Hair in Teletubbies.
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Penelope Keith presented the four-part BBC documentary The Manor Reborn in 2011.
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Penelope Keith is president of the South West Surrey chapter of the National Trust.
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Penelope Keith was President of the Actors' Benevolent Fund from 1990 to 2022, taking over after the death of Laurence Olivier.
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Penelope Keith was a Trustee of Brooklands Museum from 2009 to 2018.
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On 2 April 2002, her 62nd birthday, Penelope Keith began a one-year term as High Sheriff of Surrey, the third woman to hold the post.
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Penelope Keith has served in the past as a Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey.
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Penelope Keith was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1989 New Year Honours.
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Penelope Keith was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2007 New Year Honours for "charitable services".