Biography

Penelope Keith

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Dame Penelope Keith was educated at a convent school in Bedford, then spent two years at a drama school before going to a repertory theatre at Chesterfield in Derbyshire for six months. Early in her career, she worked in repertory in Manchester, and while there, obtained occasional television roles. When offered scripts she could usually tell within five pages if it was suitable for her. When it came to To the Manor Born (1979), which was intended as a radio series, she considered it one of the best scripts that she had read and asked to show it to BBC television light entertainment head John Howard Davies. The rest is history.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5
Dame Penelope Keith made her name in the theatre in Alan Ayckbourn's "The Norman Conquests", before which she had played almost everything, including a season at Stratford. She was spotted in "Conquests" and offered a role in the sitcom The Good Life (1975). Her first television break had been in Kate (1970) with Phyllis Calvert.

Although she would always be best remembered for her roles in The Good Life (1975) and another BBC sitcom, To the Manor Born (1979), Keith continued a successful stage career and was a popular voice-over artist.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5

From 1990 to 2022, she was President of the UK Actors' Benevolent Fund.
She was awarded the DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2014 Queen's New Year Honours List for services to the arts and to charity.
Her husband was a detective constable with the West Sussex C.I.D. until he retired from the police force to become her manager.
Her two sons are adopted.
She lived in a 17th century mansion near Guildford.

I was very tall and very plain - I wasn't going to get very far on looks - so I thought I'd better be the funny girl.
[On being awarded Damehood] It's a recognition for not only my 54 years of being an actress but also for all the charities with which I'm associated and I think they'll be thrilled.
[on To the Manor Born (1979)] I loved it because we had to do all our own stunts ... I am a country girl at heart, and I got to ride horses again, to learn about bee keeping, to drive a two-tone Rolls-Royce with impossible gears; I scaled a five-bar gate with a picnic hamper to flee a bull.

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