Rula Lenska

Rula Lenska is an English-Polish actress, who was born as Countess Roza-Marie Leopoldnya Lubienska on 30 September 1947 in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, England. Her father had led Radio Free Europe in Poland.

Her big break was as "Little Ladies" band member, Q, in the British TV series Rock Follies (1976) and its sequel Rock Follies of '77 the following year.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she became famous in the United States as well for her Alberto VO5 hair products commercials that began with a closeup of her stating: "I'm Rula Lenska.." People assumed this was a product endorsement by a celebrity whose name the advertisers expected them to know, but it later was revealed that this was a marketing ploy. It worked, and thus in the United States she became famous for pretending to be famous. Most people there were not aware that she had an acting career in the United Kingdom, and believed she was just a model. At any rate, the 'discovery' that she was nobody famous in the US led to the eventual demise of her commercial 'starring roles.'

She has appeared in television series such as Special Branch, Minder, Boon, The Detectives, Footballers' Wives, To the Manor Born, One Foot in the Grave, Casualty, Space: 1999, Return of the Saint, Robin Of Sherwood, the Doctor Who serial Resurrection of the Daleks and EastEnders, in which she played Frank Butcher's girlfriend, Krystal, in a Costa Del Sol special (2002).

She played the Lintilla clones in the original Radio series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and can also be heard in the third and fourth radio series which debuted on BBC Radio 4 in May 2005. She has presented travel programmes for the BBC and has recorded many audiobooks. She has toured extensively both in the UK and abroad and appeared in several West End shows (most recently in The Vagina Monologues and 84 Charing Cross Road) and in many pantomimes.

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 (14th), the Dome Concert Hall in Brighton (17th) and the Barbican Centre in London (21st and 22nd).

Celebrity Big Brother

Her work on tour with the London Gay Men's Chorus is assumed to have prompted her participation in the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother in January 2006. Her chosen charities were Wildlife Line and Children In Crisis. Her reason for accepting to go on Celebrity Big Brother 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 “Buddhism for the common man”, which had no hierarchical structure, for two years.

On January 13, 2006, with fellow housemate the British MP George Galloway, she attracted the attention of the media by indulging in a curious role-play incident in which Galloway, as a cat, pretended to lick milk from her cupped hands, and Lenska stroked his ears and moustache. This bizarre, and arguably disturbing incident has actually benefited Rula. After her departure from the Big Brother house she was offered a five figure deal to promote a famous cat food brand. The commercials are yet to be broadcast. On another occasion during her time in the BB house, when accidentally locked in the toilet, singer Pete Burns quipped, "Oh dear, what can the matter be, clapped out actress stuck in the lavatory."

Lenska was voted out of the show on January 20, 2006, the third housemate of the series to be evicted, after Jodie Marsh and Faria Alam.

On January 23, three days after her eviction, she gave an interview to UK radio station BBC Radio Five Live berating Pete Burns for his attitude and unfriendliness towards her. She also expressed disgust at Burns's wearing of a monkey fur coat. The "cat" incident with Galloway was highlighted, but Lenska insisted that there was nothing "untoward" about it, and laughed off any suggestion that she was romantically interested in the controversial MP.

Personal life

She has been married twice:

1. The actor Brian Deacon (4 June 1977 – 1987), with whom she had one daughter Lara Deacon.
2. The actor Dennis Waterman (3 January 1987 – 31 March 1998)

Her marriage to Waterman was famously stormy. They met on the set of Minder in 1982. They divorced amid reports of his violence and heavy drinking. Incidentally, Waterman's daughter Hannah Waterman, starred in the soap EastEnders at the same time Lenska made her guest appearances there.

She is a blood donor and also an ardent conservationist, and has travelled widely raising awareness about the world's dwindling wildlife.

In an interview with The Independent, she described herself as "passionate, romantic and slightly eccentric". She is a heavy smoker.

External links

• Rula Lenska at IMDb
• Rula on Q - An interview on Rockfollies.co.uk
• Celebrity Big Brother — transcript of "cat" incident with Galloway