Rock Follies

Rock Follies, and its sequel, Rock Follies of '77, is a musical drama shown on British television in the 1970s. The storyline, told in 12 episodes, two series, and one TV mini-series running 10 and 1/2 hours, followed the ups and downs of a fictional female rock band called the "Little Ladies" as they struggled for recognition and success. The series starred Rula Lenska, Charlotte Cornwell and Julie Covington as the Little Ladies, with support from Emlyn Price, Beth Porter, Sue Jones-Davies, Bob Hoskins, Stephen Moore, Derek Thompson, Denis Lawson and Little Nell among others. The series was made with a very low budget for Thames Television, with a style inspired by fringe theatre.

The series was a success, winning three BAFTA Awards and the soundtrack album reaching No.1 in the UK Charts.

Overview

The fictional band was made up on-screen of talented session musicians as well as the three lead actresses who proved they could sing, and the spin-off album of music from the series entered the UK charts at number one (a common occurrence now, but exceptionally rare at that time). The songs were written by Andy Mackay, who was a founding member of Roxy Music. Lyrics and screenplay were written by Howard Schuman.

Charlotte Cornwell

Charlotte Cornwell (born 26 April 1949) is an English actress.

Acting career

Cornwell's acting career began when she trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She made her professional debut with three seasons at the Bristol Old Vic Company, playing a broad range of roles from Kate Hotspur in Shakespeare's Henry IV to Becky in Sam Shepard's The Tooth of Crime.

She spent three years as a leading member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has worked as a leading actress with the Royal National Theatre since 1984. She has worked extensively both in the West End and on the Fringe, and has appeared in the US in several productions, including Richard III and An Enemy of the People opposite Sir Ian McKellen, Athol Fugard's The Road to Mecca, Terence McNally's Master Class, Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" (San Francisco Bay Critics' Award), and most recently Alan Bennett's "History Boys" at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

She has appeared in films such as Stardust (1974), The Brute (1977), The Krays (1990), The Russia House (1990), White Hunter Black Heart (1990), The Saint (1997), Ghosts of Mars (2001) and Dead Space: Aftermath (2010) (voiceover). Cornwell has also worked extensively on television including appearances in Rock Follies, Shoestring, The Men's Room, The House of Eliott, A Touch of Frost, Silent Witness, The Mentalist, CI5: The New Professionals and The West Wing, among other television programs in the UK and the US.

Rula Lenska

Rula Lenska (born Rosa Marie Lubienska, 30 September 1947) is an English actress. She mainly appeared in United Kingdom productions, but also appeared in a United States television advert that presented her as a celebrity, even though she was not widely known there at the time. She is a former wife of British actor Dennis Waterman.

Early life

Lenska was born at St Neots, Huntingdonshire, England. Her aristocratic Polish family came from Poland and owned a castle and estate in Dzików. Her father, Major Count Ludwik Maria Lubienski, was a personal secretary to Józef Beck, the Minister for Foreign Affairs in pre-1939 Poland. Later he become adjutant to General Władysław Sikorski, the Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile and the chief of the Polish military mission in Gibraltar during World War II and led Radio Free Europe in Germany. Her mother was Countess Elżbieta Tyszkiewicz who escaped from Poland, then occupied by Nazi Germany, to Italy and later survived (with her own mother) two years in Ravensbrück concentration camp. 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.

Julie Covington

Julie Covington (born 11 September 1946, London) is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina".

Early life

She attended the girls' grammar school Brondesbury and Kilburn High School in Kilburn.

Career

Covington's break came in 1967 when, while still a student at Homerton College, Cambridge, she was invited to sing on David Frost's television show – after which she secured a recording contract.

In 1971 she was cast in the original London production of Godspell at The Roundhouse, alongside David Essex, Jeremy Irons and Marti Webb. A recording of the production, featuring Covington's lead vocal on the track "Day by Day", was released in 1972. She was then cast as Janet Weiss in the original production of The Rocky Horror Show in 1973.

Between 1974 and 1984 Covington appeared regularly in the companies of the National Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre, creating such roles as Alice in Plenty, Vivienne Eliot in Tom & Viv (for which she received an Olivier Award nomination) and Edward in the original production of Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine.

Rock

Rock commonly refers to:

Rock or Rocks may also refer to:

Places

United Kingdom

United States

Multiple countries

Elsewhere