Editing Penelope Keith (section)

==Early life==
Penelope Anne Constance Hatfield was born in [[Sutton, London|Sutton]], [[Surrey]] in 1940.<ref name="BBC News">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6216985.stm|title=The Good Life of Penelope Keith|work=BBC News|date=29 December 2006}}</ref> Her father, an army officer who was a Major by the end of the [[World War II|Second World War]], left her mother, Connie, when Keith was a baby, and she spent her early years in [[Clacton-on-Sea]], [[Essex]] and [[Clapham]], south London. Her great uncle, John Gurney Nutting, was a partner in the [[coachbuilder|coachbuilding]] firm of [[J Gurney Nutting & Co Limited]], and Keith recalls sitting in the [[Charles III|Prince of Wales]]'s car.<ref name=BBC4FastLady>[[BBC Four]]&nbsp;– [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hq4fd Penelope Keith and the Fast Lady], 19 February 2009</ref>

Although not a Roman Catholic, at the age of six she was sent to a Catholic [[convent]] [[boarding school]] run by French nuns in [[Seaford, East Sussex|Seaford]], [[East Sussex]], with [[Judy Cornwell]].<ref name="lady.co.uk n107">{{cite web | title=Keith's Good Life | website=lady.co.uk | url=https://lady.co.uk/keith%E2%80%99s-good-life | access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="Cartmill 2022 k254">{{cite web | last=Cartmill | first=Claire | title=Why not find out who the real Dame Penelope Keith is in this documentary? | website=Belfast News Letter | date=6 October 2022 | url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/unearthing-the-real-penelope-keith-3868211 | access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref> Here she became interested in acting,<ref name="BBC News"/> and she frequently went to matinées in the West End with her mother. When she was eight years old, her mother remarried and she adopted her stepfather's surname, Keith. Whilst she did not get on with her stepfather, her mother was a "rock of love" to her. She was rejected by the [[Central School of Speech and Drama]] on the grounds that at {{convert|5|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on}} she was too tall. However, she was then accepted at the [[Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art]] and spent two years there while working at the [[Hyde Park Hotel]] in the evenings.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Celebration of The Good Life|publisher=Orion Books|year=2000}}</ref>

Keith began her career working in [[Repertory|repertory theatre]] around Britain, including [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]], [[Manchester]], and [[Salisbury]]. Keith's earliest appearances were in ''[[The Tunnel of Love]]'', ''[[Gigi (musical)|Gigi]]'', and ''[[Flowering Cherry]]''. In 1963, she joined the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] and acted with them in [[Stratford-upon-Avon|Stratford]] and at the [[Aldwych Theatre]] in London.<ref name="Shakespeare Birthplace Trust o822">{{cite web | title=RSC Performances | website=Shakespeare Birthplace Trust | url=https://collections.shakespeare.org.uk/search/rsc-performances/search/rsc_person:keith-penelope | access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref>