Anulka Maria Dziubinska (born 14 December 1950) is an English actress and model. She was featured as ''Playboy'' magazine's Playmate of the Month in May 1973.
After her Playmate appearance, Dziubinska became an actress of film and television, perhaps most prominently in her debut role as a
lesbian vampire
Lesbian vampirism is a trope in 20th-century exploitation film and literature. It was a way to hint at or titillate with the taboo idea of lesbianism in a fantasy context outside the heavily censored realm of social realism.
Origins and ear ...
in the British
exploitation film
An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...
classic ''
Vampyres
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
'' (1974), in which she was
credited by only her first name, Anulka.
Further acting assignments followed. In the late 1970s, Dziubinska moved to the USA. She continued her career and married twice. She left the public eye in 1985, however, when she became pregnant with her first child.
Eventually, she became a
floral design
Floral design or flower arrangement is the art of using plant materials and flowers to create an eye-catching and balanced composition or display. Evidence of refined floristry is found as far back as the culture of ancient Egypt. Professionally ...
er and owner of a
florist shop in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
. She returned to
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
in 2003 for an appearance in the documentary
short
Short may refer to:
Places
* Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon
* Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community
* Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place
People
* Short (surname)
* List of people known as ...
''
Return of the Vampyres
Return may refer to:
In business, economics, and finance
* Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense.
* Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment
* Tax return, a blank document or t ...
'', in which she shares her memories of working on the film. In 2006, she co-wrote a book about flower design, ''Zen Flowers: Designs to Soothe the Senses and Nourish the Soul''.
Early life and modelling
She was born in
Preston,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, England, the daughter of George Dziubinski and Monica Harrison. Her father was born in Poland and her mother in England. She attended St John Fisher Roman Catholic School where she started acting. From age 15, she travelled most of the Western world, living at times in London,
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
,
Bilbao
)
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize = 275 px
, map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao
, pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption ...
and
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, stopping off for stays in Italy and France.
Dziubinska worked as a
dental nurse in Preston, but found the routine too restrictive. In 1970, she was a finalist in the
Miss United Kingdom
Miss United Kingdom is a title held by the highest-ranked contestant from the UK in the Miss World pageant. The winner sometimes competes at Miss International the following year under the ''Britain'' or ''United Kingdom'' banner. From 1958 ...
beauty contest. At the
Playboy Club
The Playboy Club was initially a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first Playboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room, and a Club R ...
in London, she worked as a
blackjack
Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...
Playboy Bunny
A Playboy Bunny is a waitress who works at a Playboy Club and selected through standardized training. Their costumes were made up of lingerie, inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot. This costume consisted of a strapless corset te ...
for five months.
She spent some time in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, where
Pompeo Posar
Pompeo Posar (; February 21, 1921 – April 5, 2004) was a ''Playboy'' magazine staff photographer who photographed many centerfold features and accompanying pictures of women featured as playmate of the month. Notably, he was responsible for th ...
photographed her for the August 1972 issue of ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'', in which she appeared in the "Girls of Munich" pictorial fully clothed save for a sheer white shirt.
Dziubinska also appeared as a
Page Three
Page 3, or Page Three, was a British newspaper convention of publishing a large image of a topless female glamour model (known as a Page 3 girl) on the third page of mainstream red-top tabloids. '' The Sun'' introduced the feature, publishing ...
girl, a model featured
topless
Toplessness refers to the state in which a woman's breasts, including her areolas and nipples, are exposed, especially in a public place or in a visual medium. The male equivalent is barechestedness, also commonly called shirtlessness.
Expose ...
on the third page of the British
tabloid newspaper ''
The Sun''.
In the May 1973 issue of ''Playboy'', Dziubinska appeared as the
Playmate of the Month.
Her
centerfold
The centerfold or centrefold of a magazine is the inner pages of the middle sheet, usually containing a portrait, such as a pin-up or a nude. The term can also refer to the model featured in the portrait. In saddle-stitched magazines (as opp ...
was photographed by Posar.
She then became a professional actress and made her film debut in ''
Vampyres
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
''.
Acting career
While at a
cocktail party
A cocktail party is a party at which cocktails are served. It is sometimes called a cocktail reception. A cocktail party organized for purposes of social or business networking is called a mixer.
A cocktail hour is sometimes used by manag ...
, Dziubinska met the actor
Sir John Mills
Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...
. She is quoted as saying, 'I adored
Hayley
Hayley (pronounced ) is an English given name.
It is derived from the English surname Haley (surname), Haley, which in turn was based on an Old English toponym, a compound of ''heg'' "hay" and ''leah'' "clearing or meadow".Katie Martin-Doyle, '' ...
, so I went over to talk to him about my favourite film of all time, ''
Whistle Down the Wind'', which I've seen four million times. I said to him that I was an actress and that I'd been acting since I was at school and then I asked him if he had any advice, and he said, 'do everything you're offered, because everything you do will give you some experience!' The first thing I was offered the next day was ''
Vampyres
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...
''!'
Her role in that 1974
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
, which was directed by
José Ramón Larraz
José Ramón Larraz Gil (1929 – 3 September 2013) was a Spanish director of exploitation and horror films such as the erotic and bloody '' Vampyres'' (1974).
Biography Early life
Born in Barcelona, Larraz earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree ...
, was as Miriam, a
lesbian vampire
Lesbian vampirism is a trope in 20th-century exploitation film and literature. It was a way to hint at or titillate with the taboo idea of lesbianism in a fantasy context outside the heavily censored realm of social realism.
Origins and ear ...
, opposite Marianne Morris. She then played Lola Montez in
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...
's rock
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
''
Lisztomania
Lisztomania or Liszt fever was the intense fan frenzy directed toward Hungarian composer Franz Liszt during his performances. This frenzy first occurred in Berlin in 1841 and the term was later coined by Heinrich Heine in a feuilleton he wrote on ...
'' (1975) and Dawn in the
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
''
The Likely Lads
''The Likely Lads'' is a British sitcom created and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and produced by Dick Clement. Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC, in three series, between 16 December 1964 and 23 July 1966. However, only te ...
'' (1976). She was credited as Anulka Dubinska in the latter.
Dziubinska's first television appearances were as a girl in an episode of ''
The New Avengers'' (1976) and as Pavla in two episodes of ''
The Tomorrow People
''The Tomorrow People'' is a British children's science fiction television series created by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran from 30 April 1973 to 19 February 1979.
The theme music was c ...
'' (1977). She was credited as Anulka Dubinska in the latter.
Due to the decline of the
British film industry
The United Kingdom has had a significant film industry for over a century. While film production reached an all-time high in 1936, the "golden age" of British cinema is usually thought to have occurred in the 1940s, during which the directors ...
in the 1970s, with rampant unionism and high taxes that drove talent abroad, Dziubinska decided to move to the USA. She went to the
Writers & Artists Agency in
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...
with an 8 X 10 publicity photograph and was immediately signed.
She and American musician
Tony Sales
Tony Fox Sales (born September 26, 1951) is an American rock musician and composer. Normally on bass guitar, Sales and his brother, Hunt Sales, have worked with Todd Rundgren, Iggy Pop, and in Tin Machine with David Bowie.
Early life and career ...
were married on 20 August 1978 in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
. Sales had a near fatal car accident in 1979 and was in a coma for over eight months.
Dziubinska was cast as Francis in the
McLean Stevenson
Edgar "Mac" McLean Stevenson Jr. (November 14, 1927 – February 15, 1996) was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake in the television series ''M*A*S*H'', which earned him a Golden Glob ...
sitcom ''
Hello, Larry
''Hello, Larry'' is an American sitcom television series created by Dick Bensfield and Perry Grant, starring McLean Stevenson. It aired on NBC from January 26, 1979, to April 30, 1980. Its broadcast run consisted of 38 episodes over two season ...
'' episode ''The Nude Emcee'' (1979), in which she was credited as Anulka Fox Sales. Dziubinska played a tennis pro, Zora Korcek, opposite
Tom Selleck
Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series ''Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations f ...
's casual detective in an episode of ''
Magnum, P.I.
''Magnum, P.I.'' is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from December 11, 1980 to May 8, 1988 during its first-run broadcast on ...
'' (1982). She played Natasha in two episodes of the soap opera ''
Bare Essence
''Bare Essence'' is an American prime time soap opera television series which aired on NBC from February 15 to June 13, 1983, during the 1982–83 season. It starred Genie Francis as Tyger Hayes, and explored the intrigues of the perfume industry ...
'' (1983) and Sonya Louis-Dreyfus in one episode of ''
Falcon Crest
''Falcon Crest'' is an American prime time television soap opera that aired for nine seasons on CBS from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Channing family in the California ...
'' (1984) starring
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007)["Actress, P ...](_blank)
.
A mention of Dziubinska appeared in the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' of 9 September 1984. Amidst the celebrity
name-dropping
Name-dropping (or name-checking or a shout-out) is the practice of naming or alluding to important people and institutions within a conversation,. story, song, online identity, or other communication. The term often connotes an attempt to impress ...
in an article about the opening of a new sushi restaurant in
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
, it reads, "Nonetheless, just as we fainted into a sea of shrimp tempura we did note the too-late-for-the-lobster-teriyaki entrances of comedian
Buck Henry
Buck Henry (born Henry Zuckerman; December 9, 1930 – January 8, 2020) was an American actor, screenwriter, and director. Henry's contributions to film included his work as a co-writer for Mike Nichols's ''The Graduate'' (1967) for which he re ...
with actress Anulka Dzubinski
ic"
Her marriage with Sales ended on 18 August 1983 and they were divorced in March 1984.
Dziubinska and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese
hairstylist
A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be ref ...
Hiroshi Kitamura (born 4 April 1948) were married on 29 July 1985 in Los Angeles. She and Kitamura, the owner and head stylist of a Beverly Hills salon, had two children, Koichi George Kitamura (born 20 January 1986) and Takashi Justin Kitamura (born 19 November 1987).
[California Birth Index, Name: Takashi Justin Kitamura, Birth Date: 19 November 1987, Sex: Male, Mother's Maiden Name: Dziubinska, Birth County: Los Angeles.]
Floral designing
Dziubinska stated that the minute she became pregnant she gave up acting.
She later worked for a while as
maître d'
''Maître'' (spelled ''Maitre'' according to post-1990 spelling rules) is a commonly used honorific for lawyers, judicial officers and notaries in France, Belgium, Switzerland and French-speaking parts of Canada. It is often written in its abbrev ...
at
Matsuhisa, the original Nobu
Japanese restaurant
Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese: ) is based on rice with miso soup and othe ...
on North La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Now using her married name, Anulka Kitamura, she converted to
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. She also became the owner and head
floral design
Floral design or flower arrangement is the art of using plant materials and flowers to create an eye-catching and balanced composition or display. Evidence of refined floristry is found as far back as the culture of ancient Egypt. Professionally ...
er of a
florist shop in Hollywood.
In 2003, she journeyed back to her native Britain for an appearance in the documentary
short
Short may refer to:
Places
* Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon
* Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community
* Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place
People
* Short (surname)
* List of people known as ...
''
Return of the Vampyres
Return may refer to:
In business, economics, and finance
* Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense.
* Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment
* Tax return, a blank document or t ...
'', which was directed by
David Gregory. She received special thanks in the credits and acknowledgment for contributing
still photographs to the project, in which she and Marianne Morris share their memories of working on the 1974 film.
A practitioner of
Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
Buddhism, the origins of which are ascribed to the
Flower Sermon
The Flower Sermon is a story of the origin of Zen Buddhism in which Gautama Buddha transmits direct '' prajñā'' (wisdom) to the disciple Mahākāśyapa. In the original Chinese, the story is ''Niān huā wēi xiào'' (拈花微笑, literally " ...
, Anulka Kitamura co-wrote with Brenda Berkley the book ''Zen Flowers: Designs to Soothe the Senses and Nourish the Soul'' (2006), which was published by
Stewart, Tabori & Chang.
Anulka Dziubinska Kitamura lives in Los Angeles, where she is active in the
floristry
Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related sup ...
trade.
References and notes
External links
*
*
*at FacceBook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dziubinska, Anulka
1950 births
Living people
English film actresses
English female models
1970s Playboy Playmates
English people of Polish descent
Actors from Preston, Lancashire
Actresses from Los Angeles
English Buddhists
Converts to Buddhism
English television actresses
20th-century English actresses
21st-century American women writers