Róża Maria Leopoldyna Łubieńska, better known as Rula Lenska, is a renowned English-Polish actress born on September 30, 1947, in St. Neots, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, England. Her family, hailing from the Polish nobility, proudly bear the Pomian coat of arms and once owned a castle and estate in Kazimierza Wielka, Poland. Lenska's father, Major Count Ludwik Łubieński, held various esteemed positions, including personal secretary to Józef Beck, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Poland, and later, adjutant to General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile.
Lenska's mother, Countess Elżbieta Tyszkiewicz, escaped from Poland during the Nazi occupation and was captured with her own mother, eventually surviving two years in Ravensbrück concentration camp. The actress received her education at the Ursuline Convent School in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent.
Lenska's big break came as "Q", a member of the Little Ladies band, in the British TV series Rock Follies (1976) and its sequel, Rock Follies of '77, the following year. At this point, she had renounced her title as a Polish countess.
The actress gained international recognition with her appearances in advertisements for Alberto VO5 hairspray, which aired on US television. Although Lenska was a popular figure in the UK, she was relatively unknown in the United States. This led to a Tonight Show monologue by Johnny Carson, where he asked "Who the hell is Rula Lenska?" and began using her name as a recurring joke on his show. Around the same time, Jane Curtin portrayed Lenska in a sketch on Saturday Night Live.
