Dame Penelope Keith, best known for sitcoms The Good Life and To The Manor Born, has died aged 86, her family said.
In a long career on stage and TV, she starred as snobbish suburbanite Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life from 1975 and the widowed aristocrat Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To The Manor Born from 1979.
Dame Penelope had several meetings with the royal family through her roles with the Film And TV Charity and the Artists Benevolent Fund.
She was also a patron and fundraiser for the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
The comedy star also appeared in sitcoms Executive Stress, No Job For A Lady and Next Of Kin, and won a Bafta for a TV adaptation of The Norman Conquests, in a role she reprised after a run on stage.
She also lent her voice to adverts, including Pimm’s, Lurpak, and most famously, the Parker Pen Company, which was named one of the 100 greatest adverts.
In recent years, she has returned more to the theatre, taking on roles such as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit and Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of Being Earnest.
