Rula Lenska — born Rosa-Marie Leopoldnya Lubienska — first achieved fame in a singing role, even though she wasn't primarily a singer. Born in Cambridgeshire, England, in 1947 to a family of Polish descent, she was intent upon an acting career from childhood and attended drama school. The shortening of her name came through a combination of her father's pet name for her and a contraction of her last name. After some stage experience on London's West End, she was cast in the role of Q in the Thames Television series Rock Follies, about an all-woman rock group — although Julie Covington (who'd already achieved fame as a stage actress and a recording artist) attracted the most attention in the acting department as the hard-edged, short-haired Dee, Lenska's exotic Eastern European beauty was also a major part of the program's appeal, and the fact that her character was a struggling actress who did softcore pornography didn't hurt. She did sing, mostly harmonies, although her voice was actually rather deep and close in register and quality to Marlene Dietrich or Nico — the latter another actress-turned-singer. The accompanying Rock Follies album was a huge hit in England and a cult favorite in America, even as the series developed a national following through its being broadcast on PBS. In the years since, Lenska has concentrated primarily on her acting career, which has carried her through various television and feature films, including episodes of Doctor Who and the movie Royal Flash. She is probably best known in the United States for a series of Alberta VO5 commercials in which she introduced herself by name in the introduction. |
