Dame Penelope Keith, The Star Of 'The Good Life And To The Manor Born,' Has Died At 86

Dame Penelope Keith, one of Britain's most beloved sitcom actresses, the woman who made Margo Leadbetter a household name and whose comic timing defined two of the most celebrated British comedies ever made, died peacefully at her home in Surrey on Monday after living with cancer. She was 86.

Her family confirmed the death in a statement, saying she had lived in Surrey for more than 50 years and asking for privacy at this time.

Keith became a national treasure through two roles that could not have been more perfectly matched to her gifts.

As Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life, which began in 1975, she played the snobbish, exasperated suburbanite next door to Tom and Barbara Good's self-sufficiency experiment, a character who began as the obstacle and gradually revealed herself to have a genuine heart underneath the pearls and the horror.

She won a BAFTA in 1977 for the role. The show was so beloved that a special episode was taped before the Queen and Prince Philip during the Silver Jubilee celebrations that same year.

In To The Manor Born, which began in 1979, she played Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, a widowed aristocrat forced to sell her vast country estate and move into the lodge, from which she continued to observe, judge and eventually fall for the nouveau riche supermarket millionaire who had bought her home.

Peter Bowles played opposite her with perfect comic chemistry across both the original run and a revival.

She was appointed OBE in 1990, CBE in 2007 and named a Dame in 2014 for services to the arts and charity.

She also served as High Sheriff of Surrey from 2002, a position that dates to 1066.

"She helped Britain laugh at itself," former culture secretary Sir Jeremy Hunt wrote in tribute. "One of our best national qualities, and she brought happiness to millions."