Obituary of Dame Penelope Keith: The Good Life Comedy and Horror Star

While Keith’s voice contributed to her success, it also misrepresented her background.

Keith (nee Hatfield) was of relatively humble stock. In the year Born in Sutton Surrey in 1940, she grew up in Clapham, south London, during the Second World War.

Her mother, Connie, worked as a hotel children’s entertainment organizer and went out often, so young Penelope spent a lot of time with her grandparents.

Her father left her when she was very young, and Connie later remarried, but even though she took her father’s name, Keith wouldn’t talk about it.

At the age of six, she entered a boarding school run by nuns. There, the teaching of art and speech is encouraged.

She was very happy about the time she was going to be an actress.

“One day I came home from school and sat in the bath and told my mother I was going to be a nun or an actress when I grew up,” she told chat show Michael Parkinson in 1977.

“She was surprised and said, ‘My dear, nuns can’t wear beautiful clothes.’ So I said, ‘Okay, then I’ll be an actress.'”