{{Short description|Polish-born British actress (1933–2004)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Vanda Hudson | image = Portrait_of_Vanda_Hudson.png | image_size = | caption = Hudson as ''Picturegoer'' cover-girl, 1958 | birth_name = Wanda Maria Zaleska | birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|10|7|df=yes}} | birth_place = Slaskie, Poland | death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|4|2|1933|10|7|df=yes}} | death_place = Hertfordshire, England | occupation = actress and cabaret artiste | years_active = 1955–1971 | spouse = }}
'''Vanda Hudson''' (born '''Wanda Maria Zaleska'''; 7 October 1933 – 2 April 2004<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=McGillivray |first=David |date=20 Dec 2004 |title=Gone but not forgotten |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--archive/obituaries/gone-but-not-forgotten |url-access=subscription |archive-date= |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=The Stage and Television Today}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Vanda Hudson |url=https://www.proquest.com/fii/docview/1745667890/ |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=Film Index International |id={{ProQuest|1745667890 }} }}</ref>) was a Polish-born British film and television actress, cabaret entertainer and model. She was noted for playing blonde bombshell roles.
== Career == Born in Slaskie, Poland, Hudson emigrated to the UK in 1948 and after working as a cabaret singer found her first acting role in the 1955 BBC TV drama ''Miss Patterson''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miss Patterson |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=%22miss+patterson%22#top |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=BBC Programme Index}}</ref>
From 1957–1969 she appeared in a dozen British films including ''Sapphire'' (1959), ''Bottoms Up'' (1960), ''Strip Tease Murder'' (1961) and ''Jungle Street Girls'' (1961), in which she sang "I'm Only a Girl" (Harold Geller/Perry Ford). In 1960 she appeared in the cult film ''Circus of Horrors'' in which she played a girl stabbed to death by a knife-thrower.
In 1959 she wrote a weekly column "Diary of a Glamour Girl" for ''Picturegoer'' magazine."<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=4 November 1959 |title=A Girl's Gotta Live |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1771205408 |url-access=subscription |magazine=Picturegoer |pages=4 |id={{ProQuest|1771205408 }} |volume=38 |issue=}}</ref>
On TV she appeared in ''The Vise'' (1954) and ''The Avengers'' (1961).
In 1971 she appeared in cabaret in London at the Astor Club<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=3 February 1971 |title=Current Bills |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/963030189 |url-access=subscription |magazine=Variety |pages=62 |id={{ProQuest|963030189 }} |volume=261 |issue=12}}</ref> and in the review "Stand By For Take Off" at the Casino de Paris club.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=18 February 1971 |title=Vanda Hudson – star of Get Ready For Take-Off at the Casino de Paris |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1040283486 |magazine=The Stage and Television Today |issue=4688 |page=6 |id={{ProQuest|1040283486 }} }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=MacCarthy |first=Fiona |date=13 January 1971 |title=40 men and a girl – and nobody noticed me |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2712475734/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=14 January 2025 |work=Evening Standard |page=15 |id={{ProQuest|271245734 }} }}</ref>
== Personal life == Hudson was married to Jan Pikulski with whom she had two sons, Julian<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=12 April 1967 |title=Shirley, Julian et Vanda |url=https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3543144 |magazine=Photo Journal |volume=30 |issue=51 |pages=9 |via=Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec}}</ref> and Lucian.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 December 2024 |title='Hudson, Lucian John' |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U41456 |access-date=24 March 2025 |website=Who's Who, Oxford University Press}}</ref>
After retiring from show business she ran the restaurant "Turpin's" in Hampstead, London.<ref name=":0" />
== Filmography == * ''Greetings Cards'' (Pathé short newsreel, 1955) as self<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greetings Cards |url=https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/44274/ |access-date=15 January 2025 |website=British Pathé}}</ref> * ''Seven Thunders'' (1957) as minor role (uncredited){{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} * ''Innocent Sinners'' (1958) as minor role (uncredited){{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} * ''Sapphire'' (1959) as girl at the Tulip Club (uncredited){{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} * ''The Heart of a Man'' (1959) as Cha Cha (billing: Vanda) * ''Libel'' (1959) as girl in street * ''Bottoms Up'' (1960) as Matron (billing: Vanda) * ''Circus of Horrors'' (1960) as Magda von Meck * ''Ticket to Paradise'' (1961) as Gina * ''Strip Tease Murder'' (1961) as Angelin (billing: Wanda Hudson) * ''Jungle Street Girls'' (1961) as Lucy Bell * ''Father Came Too!'' (1964) as Nell Gwynne * ''Happening'' (1968) (billing: Wanda Hudson) * ''A Promise of Bed'' (1969) as Susan Stress
== TV appearances == * ''Miss Patterson'' (1955) as girl * ''The Vise'', S02E11, "Death Mask" (1954) as Toni * ''The Avengers'', S01E19, "Double Danger" (1961) as Lola Carrington
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0399986}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Vanda}} Category:2004 deaths Category:1933 births Category:British actresses Category:British film actresses Category:British television actresses Category:Polish actresses Category:Polish film actresses Category:Polish television actresses