Rula Lenska (born Róża Maria Leopoldyna Šubieńska, 30 September
1947) is an English-Polish actress. She mainly appears in British
stage and television productions, but is known in the United States
for a series of commercials for Alberto VO5 hairspray in the late
1970s and early 1980s. Her first husband was actor Brian Deacon (his
first wife, 1977â€"1987) and her second husband was actor Dennis
Waterman (his third wife, 1987â€"1998). She has also appeared as
Claudia Colby on Coronation Street.Lenska was born in the village of
Diddington, near St Neots, Huntingdonshire, England. She was born in a
Polish refugee camp that had previosly been the EVAC American Military
Hospital. Her birth was registered in nearby St Neots. Her family are
members of the Polish nobility, and bearers of the Pomian coat of
arms. They once owned a castle and estate in Kazimierza Wielka,
Poland. Her father, Major Count Ludwik Šubieński, was personal
secretary to Józef Beck, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Poland
before the Nazi occupation of the country. Later, he became adjutant
to General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish
Government in Exile and chief of the Polish military mission in
Gibraltar during World War II. Šubieński later became head of the
CIA-funded Polish Section of Radio Free Europe in Germany during the
Cold War. Her mother was Countess Elżbieta Tyszkiewicz who escaped
from Poland during the Nazi occupation, to Italy, but was captured
with her own mother and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp where
they survived for two years. Lenska has two sisters: Anna, an actress
who appeared in a few films in the late-1950s and early-1960s, and
Gabriela. Lenska was educated at the Ursuline Convent School in
Westgate-on-Sea, Kent.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. 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."
1947) is an English-Polish actress. She mainly appears in British
stage and television productions, but is known in the United States
for a series of commercials for Alberto VO5 hairspray in the late
1970s and early 1980s. Her first husband was actor Brian Deacon (his
first wife, 1977â€"1987) and her second husband was actor Dennis
Waterman (his third wife, 1987â€"1998). She has also appeared as
Claudia Colby on Coronation Street.Lenska was born in the village of
Diddington, near St Neots, Huntingdonshire, England. She was born in a
Polish refugee camp that had previosly been the EVAC American Military
Hospital. Her birth was registered in nearby St Neots. Her family are
members of the Polish nobility, and bearers of the Pomian coat of
arms. They once owned a castle and estate in Kazimierza Wielka,
Poland. Her father, Major Count Ludwik Šubieński, was personal
secretary to Józef Beck, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Poland
before the Nazi occupation of the country. Later, he became adjutant
to General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish
Government in Exile and chief of the Polish military mission in
Gibraltar during World War II. Šubieński later became head of the
CIA-funded Polish Section of Radio Free Europe in Germany during the
Cold War. Her mother was Countess Elżbieta Tyszkiewicz who escaped
from Poland during the Nazi occupation, to Italy, but was captured
with her own mother and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp where
they survived for two years. Lenska has two sisters: Anna, an actress
who appeared in a few films in the late-1950s and early-1960s, and
Gabriela. Lenska was educated at the Ursuline Convent School in
Westgate-on-Sea, Kent.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. 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."
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