Penelope Keith is a Actor British born on 2 april 1940
Penelope Keith
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Birth name Penelope Anne Constance HatfieldNationality United-kingdomBirth 2 april 1940 (84 years)
Awards Laurence Olivier Award
Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, DBE, DL (born Penelope Anne Constance Hatfield; 2 April 1940) is an English actress, 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). Biography
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. Timson, who is four years her junior, had been married twice before. They adopted two children.
Keith and Timson live in Milford, Surrey. Keith has a great passion for gardening. In 1984, she had a rose named after her. Penelope Keith has been President of the Actors' Benevolent Fund since 1990, taking over after the death of Lord Olivier, and is president of the South West Surrey National Trust.
On 2 April 2002, her 62nd birthday, she began a one-year term as High Sheriff of Surrey, the third woman to hold the post. She is also a Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey.
She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1990 New Year Honours, and was promoted to a Commander (CBE) in the 2007 New Year Honours for "charitable services".
In the 2014 New Year Honours, she became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the Arts and to Charity.
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