From playing social climber Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life to aristocrat Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in To The Manor Born, Dame Penelope Keith was known for her snobby yet lovable and humorous characters.

The class comic actor died, aged 86, during a battle with cancer, her family confirmed.

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Dame Penelope Keith died peacefully while living with cancer at her home in Surrey where she had lived for more than 50 years,” the announcement read.

“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 on April 2 1940, the actress’ own early years as a young child growing up in Clapham, south London, were somewhat urban, though she was sent to boarding school in the coastal town of Seaford, East Sussex, aged six.

It was as a schoolgirl that she discovered a love of performing, and Dame Penelope went on to study at London’s Webber Douglas Academy Of Dramatic Art, having reportedly been rejected from the Central School Of Speech And Drama for being too tall at around 5ft 10ins.

She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in the early 1960s, and in 1975, landed her big TV break in well-loved BBC sitcom The Good Life, as Margo, alongside co-star Felicity Kendal.

Across four series and 30 episodes, Margo was regularly peeved by her friendly, yet lower class neighbours in Surbiton, Barbara (Kendal) and Tom Good (Richard Briers), often leaving her husband Jerry Leadbetter (Paul Eddington) to apologise.

Dame Penelope won a Bafta in 1977 for her role in the series, which eventually saw her character revealed to have a heart of gold.

In the first episode, she was heard but not seen, but her presence increased as the show went on.

Another hit, To The Manor Born, in which she played the widowed aristocrat Audrey, followed soon after, and Dame Penelope has also put her recognisable voice to good use as the narrator for children’s show Teletubbies and in adverts for everything from Pimm’s to Parker Pens.

In To The Manor Born, Dame Penelope’s character Audrey is forced to sell her vast country estate, Grantleigh Manor, after the death of her husband.

She moves into the estate’s modest lodge house but manages to keep her butler and Rolls-Royce.

From the lodge she can keep an eye on new owner and nouveau riche supermarket millionaire Richard DeVere, played by Peter Bowles.

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.

In recent years, she returned to the theatre, taking on roles such as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit and Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of Being Earnest.

She was also involved in several charities, including the Actors’ Benevolent Fund, taking on the role of president following the death of Sir Laurence Olivier in 1989, and also worked with prison organisation KeepOut and the National Memorial Arboretum.

Her contribution to the arts and charity was recognised with a damehood in the 2014 New Year Honours list, and while she would never insist on being addressed as Dame Penelope, she once admitted with a laugh that “it’s lovely when people do”.

In her later years she was “firmly rooted in the country”, living in Surrey with her husband, former police officer Rodney Timson, and their two cats and two dogs.

The couple, who have two adopted sons, wed in 1978 after meeting at a Chichester theatre, where Dame Penelope was performing and Timson was on duty.

She said that the secret to a successful marriage is “home-made marmalade”.