Dame Penelope Keith dies aged 86: Actress best known for The Good Life and To The Manor Born passes away 'peacefully' after battle with cancer

Dame Penelope Keith dies aged 86: Actress best known for The Good Life and To The Manor Born passes away 'peacefully' after battle with cancer - See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Actress Dame Penelope Keith, best known for sitcoms The Good Life and To The Manor Born, has died aged 86, her family said today. She played snobbish suburbanite Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life, which launched in 1975, and the widowed aristocrat Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To The Manor Born from 1979. A statement issued this morning on behalf of her family said: 'We are deeply saddened to announce that Dame Penelope Keith died peacefully whilst living with cancer at her home in Surrey where she had lived for more than 50 years. 'The family is grateful for the care and support she received throughout her treatments, and ask that their privacy be respected at this time.' Dame Penelope started her career on the stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963 but became a household name for her work in sitcoms. She won a Bafta in 1977 for playing Margo, the snobbish bullying social climber, but later reveals a heart of gold. The Good Life followed couple Tom and Barbara Good, played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal, who try to escape the rat race in their suburban house in Surbiton. They try to become self-sufficient, turning their gardens into an allotment and introducing farmyard animals, much to the horror of their neighbours – Margo and her husband Jerry. She is thought to have last been seen in public with her husband Rodney Timson attending the Duchess of Kent's funeral at Westminster Cathedral last September. More to follow Actress Dame Penelope Keith, who lived in Surrey, is pictured in a photoshoot in April 2017 Dame Penelope Keith with Peter Bowles in the BBC's To The Manor Born, which aired from 1979 (From left) Felicity Kendal, Richard Briers, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington in The Good Life Dame Penelope Keith and her husband Rodney Timson at the Duchess of Kent's funeral at Westminster Cathedral in September 2025 - believed to be the last time she was seen in public Penelope Keith is made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on March 7, 2014 Dame Penelope Keith attends the Wimbledon Championships in London on July 10, 2021 Dame Penelope Keith with her husband Rodney Timson at a theatre awards event in 2005