Rula Lenska (born Roza Maria Leopoldyna Lubienski 30 September 1947) is a British actress. She mainly appears in British stage and television productions, but appeared in a series of television advertisements in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States. In the United Kingdom, she played Luce Habit in Queen Kong (1976) and Claudia Colby in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2009–11; 2018–22).
Lenska was previously married to the actors Brian Deacon (1977–1987) and Dennis Waterman (1987–1998). Both marriages ended in divorce.
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Early life
Lenska was born in England in the village of Diddington, near St Neots, Huntingdonshire, in a Polish resettlement camp that had previously been the EVAC American Military Hospital. Her birth was registered in nearby St Neots.
Her family is Polish nobility, bearing the Pomian coat of arms, and before World War II owned a castle and estate in Kazimierza Wielka. Her father, Major Ludwik Łubieński, was personal secretary to Józef Beck, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Poland before the German occupation of the country. Later, he became adjutant to General Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile and was chief of the Polish military mission in Gibraltar during World War II. During the Cold War he headed the CIA-funded Polish Section of Radio Free Europe in Germany. Her mother was Countess Elżbieta Tyszkiewicz, who escaped from Poland to Italy during the German occupation, but was captured with her own mother and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where they survived for two years before emigrating to England in 1946.
Lenska has two sisters: Anna, an actress who appeared in films in the late-1950s and early-1960s, and Gabriela. Lenska was educated at the Ursuline Convent School in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent.
Career
1965–1980: Early works and U.S. recognition
After attending Webber-Douglas School of Drama for two and a half years, Lenska embarked on her career as an actress at 18, much to her father's dismay, who wanted her to go into the United Nations; she first appeared in an uncredited role in Dixon of Dock Green. Lenska's first major production was in the West End production of Francis Durbridge's play, Suddenly at Home, as Ruth. She would then go on to portray Helga in the 1975 British adventure comedy Royal Flash, based on the George MacDonald Fraser novel of the same name, before receiving subsequent notoriety for her role as Little Ladies band member "Q" in the British TV series Rock Follies (1976–77), which she describes as her most lucrative role. By this time, she had "discarded" her title as a Polish countess; she has said of the decision, "In England it doesn't count, if you'll excuse the pun."
In the late 1970s, Lenska began to appear in television adverts for the hair product Alberto VO5, which were shown in the United States. Because Lenska had primarily worked in Britain, she was almost entirely unknown in the United States, yet the commercials were scripted as if Lenska was an established celebrity. The question 'Who the hell is Rula Lenska?' was first asked by U.S. news anchor Don Lark, followed by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show (which later became a running joke on the series), and then in the U.S. publication The Washington Post, whose writer, Roger Rosenblatt, designated Lenska as "a nobody." Around the same time, Jane Curtin enacted Lenska in a sketch on Saturday Night Live.
On 5 June 1978, Lenska performed as Titania in David Conville's directorial version of the William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. The production was staged at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London.
The ribbing culminated with a sketch on the short-lived 1980 variety program The Big Show, where Steve Allen, dressed in drag, parodied her as "Rula Shiksa," making a commercial by a swimming pool; Lenska, making her first U.S. appearance, came onto the set to confront him. Allen was not told about her presence; it was a prank arranged by the show's producer, Nick Vanoff, who kept her hidden during the entire rehearsal and filming, so he was legitimately shocked when she approached him. She delivered a punchline, "I'm Rula Lenska and you're not!" and then pushed him into the pool.
1981–1989: Subsequent roles and continued stage presence
In 1981, Lenska would ironically portray Countess Radzsky in the television film The Seven Dials Mystery, based on the Agatha Christie mystery novel of the same name. She was also featured in the BBC serial Private Schulz broadcast in the same year. From 5 September to 10 October 1981, Lenska, in her first leading role, starred alongside John Inman in the short-lived sitcom Take a Letter, Mr. Jones, playing the role of executive Joan Warner. The series ran for only six episodes before being cancelled due to poor ratings. In November, she guest starred as Mademoiselle Dutoit in the BBC television sitcom To the Manor Born in the episode, "Cosmetics." In 1982, Lenska returned to stage, performing as Judith Hayne in the West End murder mystery theatre production, Mr. Fothergill's Murder, originally written by Peter O'Donnell. The show premiered in April at Hull New Theatre; Lenska retained the role for seven months until the show's closing in November at Duke of York's Theatre in London.
Lenska also appeared as a storyteller in five episodes of the BBC children's programme Jackanory, narrating traditional Polish folk tales. That same year, Lenska would first guest star in the Dennis Waterman-lead comedy Minder, as Kate; she would make future appearances on the programme between 1985 and 1989, during her marriage to Waterman. In September 1983, Lenska voiced Tanya in the novel-based Murder at the Red October on the BBC Radio 4 station. In 1984, Lenska guest starred as Morgwyn of Ravenscar in the drama series Robin of Sherwood, which was filmed near St Michael's Mount, Cornwall. For six weeks in 1985, Lenska and future husband Dennis Waterman acted opposite each the other in the romantic comedy Same Time, Next Year, originally written by Bernard Slade. Their performances ran from September to December at The Old Vic Theatre in London. In 1987, Lenska returned to voice portrayals on BBC Radio, leading as Lady Faustus in the self-entitled broadcast. From September to November 1988, Lenska starred as Elvira in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit; Lenska returned to production in June 1989 in replacement of Louise Jameson.
1990–1998: Decline in television and film; primary work in theatre
Shortly after Lenska no longer appeared in Alberto VO5 commercials, her demand dropped significantly, appearing in very few films and starring television roles.
From June to July 1990, Lenska played Valerie Vilma in Václav Havel's Temptation at the Westminster Theatre. In 1992, Lenska acted as Desiree Armfeldt in the West End musical A Little Night Music from 16 April to 2 May, at the Plymouth Theatre Royal. In 1993, she performed in two West End productions, the first The Cherry Orchard (from May to June), playing the role of Lyuba Ranyevskaya, a landowner, at the Redgrave Theatre, Farnham, and the second Present from the Past (from August to October), playing Frances on the show's tour. In 1994, she portrayed the lead antagonist role of Annie Wilkes in Misery, a play based on the 1987 Stephen King novel of the same name, playing opposite Bryan Murray, who portrayed the protagonist, Paul Sheldon. The tour began on 16 May at the King's Theatre in Scotland, and concluded on 23 July at the New Theatre, Cardiff.
Beginning in April 1995, she began starring as Freda Caplan in J. B. Priestley's play Dangerous Corner, replacing Gayle Hunnicutt and acting alongside Christopher Timothy. She remained in a primary capacity until the show finished in July. In July 1996, she captured the lead role of Lady Macbeth in her second Shakespeare production, Macbeth, performing at the Stafford Castle for the show's two-week run. From August to September 1997, she performed at the Chichester Festival Theatre in the W. Somerset Maugham play, Our Betters, as Duchesse de Surenne. From 26 May to 12 September 1998, she played Vivienne Trent in the tour of Dangerous to Know, based on the 1995 Barbara Taylor Bradford novel of the same name.
In 1996 she featured in the music video Never Never Love (song) for Simply Red.
2002–present: Return from hiatus; Celebrity Big Brother and Coronation Street
Lenska took four years off acting in the aftermath of her divorce from Dennis Waterman. She returned to theatre as a part of the ensemble cast of Masterpieces from May to June 2002. In July, Lenska, alongside Angie Le Mar and Tilly Blackwood, joined the cast of The Vagina Monologues U.K. tour, beginning at the Arts Theatre in London.
In 2003, Lenska made her return to film, after a 22 year gap, in the starring role of Dee Perry in the low budget black comedy film Paradise Grove, acting opposite Ron Moody. In 2004, she would appear in the crime film Fakers, as Sylvia Creat. In March 2004, she began playing Helene Hanff in 84, Charing Cross Road, based on the 1970 book of the same name.
In January 2005, Lenska began performing at the Perth Theatre, playing the role of Stella in A Sense of Justice until 12 February. She then played middle-aged mother Irina in the independent film Gypo, which was the first UK feature film to be made under Dogme rules; she played a Romani refugee from the Czech Republic living on a caravan site in Margate. In December 2005, she appeared on stage with the London Gay Men's Chorus for their Christmas Show, Make the Yuletide Gay. She sang and danced while also hosting the show at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, the Dome Concert Hall in Brighton and the Barbican Centre in London.
Lenska's work on tour with the London Gay Men's Chorus is assumed to have prompted her participation in the United Kingdom version of Celebrity Big Brother in January 2006. Her reason for accepting the invitation to go on the show was "I'm a crazy Polish countess who likes a challenge". During the show, she declared that she had been a "Tibetan Buddhist" for many years but had been practising Nichiren Daishonin for two years. On 13 January 2006, alongside fellow housemate, Scottish politician and then-Respect Party MP George Galloway, she attracted the attention of the media by indulging in a role-play task set by Celebrity Big Brother, in which Galloway pretended to be a cat licking milk from her cupped hands, and Lenska stroked his ears and moustache.
At the equivalent show in December 2006, Sandi Toksvig corrupted the lyrics of a song to suggest Lenska had a Christmas job in Debenhams. In 2007, she toured alongside Marti Webb and Sheila Ferguson in a new musical about menopause called Hot Flush. and hosted a mini-show at Lutterworth Piano Rooms 3 November 2012.
Personal life
Lenska has been married twice, first to actor Brian Deacon (4 June 1977 – 1987), with whom she had one daughter, and secondly to actor Dennis Waterman, from 3 January 1987 until 31 March 1998. Both marriages ended in divorce.
She and Waterman met on the set of Minder in 1981 where their characters had a brief love interest. Some years after Lenska's second marriage ended, in a March 2012 interview with Piers Morgan, Waterman said: "It's not difficult for a woman to make a man hit her. She certainly wasn't a beaten wife, she was hit and that's different." Via her friend, Denise Welch on Loose Women, Lenska said that she was relieved that he had now admitted beating her. Lenska had made allegations against Waterman shortly after their split and thought she could no longer be accused of lying. In her 2013 autobiography, Rula: My Colourful Life, Lenska wrote about Waterman's infidelities, which included an affair with actress Amanda Redman.
In 2016, Lenska was sentenced to a 16-month driving ban and ordered to pay a total of £526 after crashing her car while under the influence of alcohol. Her three-year-old grandson was a passenger in the car.