She was a joy to know and work with. They were special times

Snobbish, posh-talking domineering characters don't usually capture the hearts of the nation - but those played by Dame Penelope Keith did.

- BY MARK JEFFERIES

As Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life and as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To the Manor Born, Dame Penelope - who has died aged 86 - used her pinpoint comic timing to endear them to viewers and co-stars alike.

Felicity Kendal, 79, the last living lead star of classic BBC sitcom The Good Life, hailed that skill. Paying tribute yesterday, she said: ‘I am deeply saddened to hear of my friend Penelope's death.

‘The shows I worked on with her were such special times in our lives and demonstrated her comic genius. She was a joy to know and work with, and she will be much missed.

Novelist Lissa Evans highlighted the difference between the actress and her characters. She posted: ‘Margo Leadbetter was snobbish, humourless and entitled, and Penelope Keith managed to make her into one of the most adored (and oddly vulnerable) characters ever seen on a sitcom.

‘She delivered every line as if it were a jewelled crown on a velvet cushion. An utter genius’

Dame Penelope's family said in a statement released yesterday: ‘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’

Born in Sutton, Surrey, Dame Penelope grew up in Clapham, South London, in the thick of World War Two. With her mum away working she spent a lot of time with her grandparents before going to a boarding school run by nuns.

In 1977 she told chat show host Michael Parkinson: ‘I apparently came home from school one day and sat in the bath and said to my mother that when I grow older I was going to be either a nun or an actress.

‘She was a bit taken aback and said, ‘Darling, nuns can't wear pretty clothes. So I said, ‘Well, I'll be an actress then.’