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
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 was best known for her roles as snobbish suburbanite Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life, which launched in 1975, and the widowed aristocrat Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To The Manor Born, which first aired in 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.’
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.
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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
