Patricia Margaret "Pat" Keen (21 October 1933 – 1 March 2013) was an English actress whose career on stage, television and film ran from the 1950s to the 2000s. Born in

Willesden Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has formed ...

Brent, London The London Borough of Brent () is a London borough in north-west London. It borders the boroughs of Harrow to the north-west, Barnet to the north-east, Camden to the east, the City of Westminster to the south-east, as well as the Royal Boro ...

, Keen trained at the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

in the company of the novelist Paul Bailey, and after graduating in 1956, was offered a job at the

Oxford Playhouse Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F.G.M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road, North Oxfor ...

.Paul Baile
Obituary: Pat Keen
''The Guardian'', 22 March 2013 Her first West End appearance came with the role of Margaret in the first stage production of

Robert Bolt Robert Oxton Bolt (15 August 1924 – 20 February 1995) was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter, known for writing the screenplays for ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Doctor Zhivago'', and '' A Man for All Seasons'', ...

's '' A Man for All Seasons'' in 1960, in which

Susannah York Susannah Yolande Fletcher (9 January 1939 – 15 January 2011), known professionally as Susannah York, was an English actress. Her appearances in various films of the 1960s, including '' Tom Jones'' (1963) and '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' ...

was cast in the later film version. In ''

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

'' (1974), a Sunday tea time serial for the BBC, Keen played the "perfect" Clara Peggotty, however the actress was best known for playing strident, bossy middle-aged women throughout the 1970s and 1980s, such as Virginia in the ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television ...

'' episode "

The Anniversary The Anniversary is an American band formed in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1997 by Josh Berwanger, James David, Christian Jankowski, Adrianne Verhoeven and Justin Roelofs. The Anniversary was the solidification of a line-up that had been in flux for a ...

" (1979), and as an anxious mother in ''

Clockwise Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top. The opposite ...

'' (1986). She was also known for playing Addy (the mother in law) in the TV series '' Down to Earth'' (2000-2001).

Death

During her later life, Keen resided in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

. Becoming increasing frail, she moved to a nursing home in April 2009, where she died on 1 March 2013, aged 79, from undisclosed causes.

Partial filmography

*'' A Kind of Loving'' (1962) – Christine Harris *'' The Sailor's Return'' (1979) – Mrs. Bascombe *''

Memoirs of a Survivor ''The Memoirs of a Survivor'' is a dystopian novel by Nobel Prize-winner Doris Lessing. It was first published in 1974 by Octagon Press. It was made into a film in 1981, starring Julie Christie and Nigel Hawthorne, and directed by David Glad ...

'' (1981) – Victorian Mother *''

'' (1986) – Mrs. Wisely *''

We Think the World of You ''We Think the World of You '' is a 1988 film directed by Colin Gregg and starring Gary Oldman and Alan Bates. It is adapted from the 1960 J.R. Ackerley novel of the same name. It was produced by Tomasso Jandelli and Cinecom Pictures. Plot In p ...

'' (1988) – Miss Sweeting *''

Without a Clue ''Without a Clue'' is a 1988 British comedy film directed by Thom Eberhardt and starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley. It is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters from the Sherlock Holmes stories but, in this version, the roles are ...

'' (1988) – Mrs. Hudson *''

The Rachel Papers ''The Rachel Papers'' is a 1989 British film written and directed by Damian Harris, and based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Martin Amis. It stars Dexter Fletcher and Ione Skye with Jonathan Pryce, James Spader, Bill Paterson, Jared ...

'' (1989) – Mrs. Tauber *'' Shadowlands'' (1993) – Mrs. Young *''

Fierce Creatures ''Fierce Creatures'' is a 1997 British-American farcical comedy film. While not literally a sequel, ''Fierce Creatures'' is a spiritual successor to the 1988 film '' A Fish Called Wanda''. Both films star John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin ...

'' (1997) – Woman's Mother

References

External links

* * 1933 births 2013 deaths Actresses from London Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama English film actresses English stage actresses English television actresses Actors from Ipswich {{England-actor-stub