Rula Lenska says she ‘never dreamt’ she’d end up ‘living alone’ at 76

Mention the name Rula Lenska and you’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t conjure up an image of the stunningly beautiful flame haired actress. A stalwart of the British acting scene, she’s turned her hands to everything from soap operas and panto to films and stage in her 50-year career. And yes, even reality TV.

When I meet her in her Chiswick house she’s in a philosophical mood. She’s wrestling with the idea of selling her home of 25 years, telling me, “At my age you have to think hard about your future, I can feel that I’m not as strong as I used to be and inevitably it will only get worse. I want to make sure I do it before I’m forced into it. This house is too big for just me. I never dreamt I’d end life on my own but that’s the way it’s turned out.”

Rula has been married twice, first to Brian Deacon, with whom she had her 43-year-old daughter Lara – who she describes as ‘the best thing that ever happened to me’ along with her 12-year-old grandson. And then famously to Dennis Waterman, they met on the set of Minder in 1982, when they were both still married to other people.

Theirs was a volatile relationship and shortly after it finally ended in 1998, Rula admitted that he’d occasionally hit her when he was very drunk, an accusation that Dennis denied for years until he finally confessed in 2012 during a television interview.

Despite this Rula speaks of him with surprising affection, she would have liked to make peace before his death in May 2022.

She says, “I wish I’d had a chance at closure with Dennis, though we were separated it was a huge shock when he died. Ten out of the 17 years we were together were the best of my life. For those years it was a wonderful marriage, there was affection, warmth, travel and adventure. When it was good it was magnificent.

“He was a gentle man, probably the most romantic man that I’ve ever known. Then it descended into anger and vitriol because of infidelity and alcohol – his not mine. He was aggressive when he was drunk. He was a huge part of my life and it feels like unfinished business. He wasn’t a bad person, I’d never have married a bad person. Life and people are far more complicated than that and we all have our good and bad sides and with Dennis the good outweighed the bad.”

It might be an unusual take but Rula’s life has been far from ordinary from birth. She’s a Polish Countess, born in a Polish resettlement camp in St Neotts, Cambridgeshire, to an aristocratic mother, who’d survived two years imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp. She died in 1995 but her words of wisdom have undoubtedly contributed to Rula’s resilience.

“She used to tell me ‘expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed’ and ‘your enemy’s job is to destroy you and your job is to survive’,” remembers Rula.

Rula has not only survived but thrived. Acting is a fickle industry and yet she’s still working and has been constantly since her screen debut in 1976 with the hit show Rock Follies. Her latest project is filming a horror film. Last year she was touring with the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. She tells me, “I will never give up work,” before adding with a wry smile, “though it might give up on me.”

She’s worked alongside everyone from Joan Collins to Derek Jakobi, but some of her fondest memories are from when she did and ended up living with Maureen Lipman.

She tells me, “We decided to flat share and it was wonderful – we’d sit and watch animal documentaries together. We had many of the same interests, but in other ways we were chalk and cheese. She arrived with one small suitcase, whereas I don’t travel lightly – I turned up with bags of shawls, drapes and candles to make it look homely, though she quipped that I’d made it look like a brothel. She’s a fantastic friend.”

Les Dawson is another celebrity she remembers with affection after starring in panto with him. “We were in Aladdin and he played Widow Twanky. I was about to go on stage when I looked over and saw Les in the wings stark naked, except his wig,” she remembers. “It was hilarious, I could barely go on stage I was laughing so much, he was a brilliant comedian.”

Mention George Galloway however and she shudders. In fact bringing up her time on Celebrity Big Brother is the one occasion during our interview when Rula becomes tight lipped.

She signed up to it for a reason – to raise money for the Daphne Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, one of many animal charities close to her heart. Throughout her life she’s fought for animal rights and will never stop.

On Tuesday (1 October) she’s hosting a private view of her friend, the celebrated wildlife artist Gary Hodges’ pencil drawings to raise money for the Born Free Foundation. His exquisite artwork is dotted through her house. “One of his drawings is the first thing I see every morning so I start every day feeling uplifted,” she tells me. “Animals are magnificent, they have as much right to freedom and compassion as humans. Seeing them either in art or in real life soothes the soul.

“I’ve been lucky enough to travel extensively with Gary. Seeing animals in the wild is extraordinary – they’re amazing, an elephant is so dextrous, it can remove a thorn from its own foot with its trunk. If an elephant is in captivity and allowing someone to ride them, that beautiful animal will have been tortured repeatedly. It’s horrific.”

Rula’s had animals all her life, at the moment she’s got a beautiful rescue cat that joins us in her kitchen as she reminisces about her last relationship. It was with a very distant cousin who she met while she was in Poland visiting family.

“He was wonderful, drop dead gorgeous and very romantic – it was very loving and tender,” she remembers. “It was lovely to have a person to lean on, be supported by and someone to trust. But to progress one of us had to move – he had his work out there and I had my daughter and grandson here in London, I love being near them and seeing them regularly, so there was an impasse. Sadly after 12 years we finished it, parting as great friends, and there’s been no one special in the 10 years since.

“I’m not unhappy alone and it’s hard to know how to find someone new. In the old days I used to meet people at dinner parties or travelling but that doesn’t happen anymore. And I’m not going online or downloading any apps – the way people write is different to the way they talk and so you don’t know what you’re getting.”

I suspect she wouldn’t be short of suitors if she did dip her toes into the dating pool again. She’s funny, charming and fiercely intelligent.

She jokes that she still ‘looks presentable in some lights’ – in reality she looks astonishingly good in broad daylight in her kitchen, despite resorting to no more than a bit of filler and botox. These days she dodges wine as it doesn’t agree with her, though she enjoys the odd vodka lime and soda, eats healthily and makes sure she gets her steps in.

“I used to think giving things up meant giving in – but now I’m just more sensible, I make sure I get enough sleep and avoid drinking too much. My biggest fear is getting Alzheimers, it’s a terrifying illness. Hopefully I won’t and I can live out my years doing what I love best, travelling, working, having fun with friends and family and raising awareness about animal cruelty.”

For details on Gary Hodges’ exhibition, and tickets for the star studded private view, held at the Mall Galleries in central London, in aid of the Born Free Foundation please go to