Penelope Keith
Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, (née Hatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in all genres, including film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms "The Good Life" and "To the Manor Born". She 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 (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to the arts and to charity. Keith joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963, and went  on to win the 1976 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for the play "Donkeys' Years". She became a household name in the UK playing Margo Leadbetter in the sitcom "The Good Life" (1975–78), winning the 1977 BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance. In 1978, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for "The Norman Conquests". She then starred as Audrey ﬀorbes-Hamilton in the sitcom "To the Manor Born" (1979–81), a show that received audiences of more than 20 million. She went on to star in another six sitcoms, including "Executive Stress" (1986–88), "No Job  for a Lady" (1990–92) and "Next of Kin" (1995–97). Since 2000, she has worked mainly in the theatre, with her roles including Madam Arcati in "Blithe Spirit" (2004) and Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest" (2007). Early life. Penelope Anne Constance Hatfield was born in Sutton in 1940. Her 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 and Clapham. Her great uncle, John Gurney Nutting, was a partner in the coachbuilding  firm of J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited, and Keith recalls sitting in the Prince of Wales's car.  Although not a Roman Catholic, at the age of six she was sent to a Catholic boarding school in Seaford. Here she became interested in acting, and she frequently went to matinées in the West End with her mother. When she was eight years old, her mother remarried and Penelope adopted her stepfather's surname, Keith. While she did not get on with her stepfather, her mother was a "rock of love" to her. She was rejected by the Central School of  Speech and Drama, on the grounds that, at 5'10" (1.78 m), 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 evenings. Keith began her career working in repertory theatre around Britain, including Lincoln, Manchester, and Salisbury. Keith's earliest appearances were in "The Tunnel of Love", "Gigi", and "Flowering Cherry". In 1963, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and acted with them in Stratford and at the Aldwych Theatre in London. Early career. Keith began 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 was cut from the final edit. She appeared as a nurse in "A Touch of Love" 1969. Her best known theatre appearance, in 1974, was playing Sarah in "The Norman Conquests", alongside  Felicity Kendal, her co-star in "The Good Life". Keith and Kendal would often film "The Good Life" during the day and perform on stage in the West End in the evening. Television fame. Penelope Keith achieved popular fame 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, the scope of her role increased. In 1977, Keith won a BAFTA award for "Best Comedy Performer" for her role of Margo Leadbetter. From 1979 to  1981, she played the lead role of Audrey ﬀorbes-Hamilton in the TV series "To the Manor Born". Following "To the Manor Born", Keith has appeared in the lead role in six other sitcoms: "Sweet Sixteen", "Moving", "Executive Stress", "No Job for a Lady", "Law and Disorder" and "Next of Kin". She also had the starring role in a TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's play "Spider's Web". She won a second BAFTA award as "Best Actress" in 1978 for "The Norman Conquests". In 1982, Keith starred in a TV production of Frederick Lonsdale's "On Approval". In 1988 , she hosted one series of the ITV panel show "What's My Line?", following the death of its former presenter, Eamonn Andrews. She had a featured role in the 1998 ITV serial "Coming Home". Ongoing work. Keith has regularly appeared on stage, taking the classics and new plays across the country. These include Shakespeare, Shaw, Sheridan, Wilde, Rattigan and Congreve. She played Lorraine in Noël Coward's "Star Quality", while in 2004 she played Madame Arcati in Coward's "Blithe Spirit" at the Savoy Theatre. In 2004, Keith starred in the first of 10 full-cast BBC radio dramatisations of  M.C. Beaton's "Agatha Raisin" novels, playing the title role. Two years later, she appeared at the Chichester Festival in the premiere of Richard Everett's comedy "Entertaining Angels", which she later took on tour. In 2007, she played the part of Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest" on tour, which transferred to the West End in 2008, at the Vaudeville Theatre. She 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. In 2012, she starred  in Keith Waterstone's "Good Grief", having previously appeared in the play's premier production in 1998. In 1997, she starred in the radio adaptations of "To the Manor Born". In 2003, she appeared opposite June Brown in the television film "Margery and Gladys". In 2007, she starred in a one-off "To the Manor Born" Christmas Special, Keith also voiced The Big Brown Bear in "Teletubbies". In 2009 she presented "Penelope Keith and the Fast Lady", a one-off documentary for BBC Four about Dorothy Levitt, the Edwardian motoring pioneer. She presented the four-part BBC documentary "The Manor  Reborn" in 2011. Since 2014, she has presented all three series of the More4/Channel 4 programme "Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages", and in June 2016 she presented "Penelope Keith at Her Majesty's Service" again for Channel 4. In December 2017, she presented "Penelope Keith's Coastal Villages", a continuation of the "Hidden Villages" series. In early 2018, she presented the Channel 4 series "Village of the Year with Penelope Keith". It was announced in February 2018 that Keith would be starring as Mrs St Maugham in the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Enid Bagnold's "The Chalk Garden  from 25 May to 16 June 2018. Personal life. In 1978, the year The Good Life" ended, she married Rodney Timson, a policeman. They had met while he was on duty at Chichester Theatre where Keith was performing. In 1988, ten years after their wedding, they adopted two boys, who were brothers to each other. Keith and Timson now live in Milford, Surrey. Keith has a great passion for gardening. In 1984, she had a rose named after her. She is president of the South West Surrey chapter of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty . In 2014, she presented "4 Extra Goes Gardening" in which she celebrated the work of garden designer Gertrude Jekyll at her former home, Munstead Woods in Godalming. It is occasionally repeated on "BBC Radio 4 Extra". Keith has been President of the Actors' Benevolent Fund since 1990, taking over after the death of Lord Olivier. Awards and honours. 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. She has also served in the past as a Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey. Penelope Keith was  appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1989 New Year Honours. She was awarded a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2007 New Year Honours for "charitable services". In the 2014 New Year Honours, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to the Arts and to Charity.