Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch (born
September 5 1940) is an
American actress.
Welch was born
Jo Raquel Tejada in
Chicago, Illinois, the oldest of three children born to Armando Carlos Tejada and Josephine Sarah Hall. Her father was a Bolivian
immigrant who was an
aerospace engineer, and her mother was an
Irish-American.[
1]
In 1942, Armando Tejada was transferred to
San Diego, California. The family moved to the suburb of
La Jolla, where Raquel grew up. She took
dancing lessons as a child, and was winning
beauty pageants by the time she was a teenager. Among her titles were "Miss Photogenic," "Miss La Jolla," "Miss Contour," and "Miss San Diego." In 1957, she was named "Miss Fairest of the Fair" at the
San Diego County Fair. After high school she entered
San Diego State College on a theater arts
scholarship. The following year she married a high school sweetheart, James Welch.
In 1959, Raquel Welch played the title role in the famous
Ramona Pageant, a yearly outdoor play at
Hemet, California, which is based on the novel
Ramona by
Helen Hunt Jackson.
She became a
weather forecaster at a local San Diego
television station. Because of her heavy schedule, she decided to leave college. Her marriage broke up and she moved with her two children to
Dallas, Texas, where she
modeled for
Neiman-Marcus and worked as a cocktail hostess, intending to move on to
New York City from there.
Instead, she moved back to
California. She found a place in
Los Angeles and started making the rounds of the
movie studios. She was cast in bit parts in two films and television shows,
Bewitched,
McHale's Navy,
The Hollywood Palace, and
The Virginian. She actually auditioned for the part of "Mary Ann" on
Gilligan's Island but lost out to
Dawn Wells. Welch's first featured role was in
A Swingin' Summer, which led to a
contract with
20th Century Fox. She was then cast in the
Sci-fi hit
Fantastic Voyage, which finally made her a star.
On loan out to
Hammer Studios in
Britain, she starred in the remake of
One Million Years B.C.. After her appearance as
Lust incarnate in
Bedazzled, she returned to the United States and appeared in a
Western with
James Stewart and
Dean Martin titled
Bandolero!, which was followed by
Lady in Cement with
Frank Sinatra. Her first real starring role was in
Myra Breckinridge with
Mae West, which turned out to be a dismal failure.
Despite box office disappointments, Welch became one of the leading sex symbols of the 1960s and 1970s. Her most memorable
publicity still, where she was clad in a furry animal-skin
bikini for
One Million Years B.C., became a bestselling poster.
Playboy called her the "Most Desired Woman" of the 1970s.
|
On the cover of Playboy, December 1979 |
Welch was due to star in the 1982 adaptation of
Cannery Row, but was fired by the producers in favour of
Debra Winger. She successfully sued, collecting a multi million dollar award, but this effectively ended her film acting career until the mid-90's. Her television appearances include the series
The Hollywood Palace, the made for TV movies
The Legend of Walks Far Woman and
Right to Die, in which she turned in a stirring performance as a woman with
Lou Gehrig's disease, and in the
PBS series
American Family, about a
Mexican American family in
East Los Angeles. She has also appeared in the night time
soap opera CPW and made
infomercials and exercise videos. While she never appeared on the show, her name was frequently used as an all-purpose answer on the game show
Match Game. In 1987, she flirted with a pop singing career, releasing the dance single
This Girl's Back In Town.
She has also performed in a
nightclub act in
Las Vegas and has starred on
Broadway in
Woman of the Year and in
Victor/Victoria, where she replaced
Julie Andrews.
As a businesswoman Welch has experienced great success with her signature line of wigs. She also began a jewelry and skincare line although neither of those ventures compared to the success of her wig collection.
*She has been married to
James Welch (1959-1962),
publicist and
agent;
Patrick Curtis (who played the baby of
Olivia de Havilland in
Gone with the Wind) (1967-1972),
writer;
Andre Weinfeld(1980-1990); and
Richard Palmer (1999).
*She is the mother of Damon Welch and actress
Tahnee Welch.
*She is (or was in the 1970s) a fan of
Chelsea FC. [
2]
In
1974, Raquel Welch won a
Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy for
The Three Musketeers. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the TV drama
Right to Die (
1987).
She has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in
Hollywood.
A House Is Not a Home (1964)
Roustabout (1964)
A Swingin' Summer (1965)
The Queens (1966)
Fantastic Voyage (1966)
One Million Years B.C. (1966)
Shoot Loud, Louder... I Don't Understand (1966)
Think Twentieth (1967) (short subject)
The Oldest Profession (1967)
Fathom (1967)
Bedazzled (1967)
The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968)
Bandolero! (1968)
Lady in Cement (1968)
100 Rifles (1969)
Flareup (1969)
The Magic Christian (1969)
The Beloved (1970)
Myra Breckinridge (1970)
Hannie Caulder (1971)
Bluebeard (1972)
Fuzz (1972)
Kansas City Bomber (1972)
The Last of Sheila (1973)
The Three Musketeers (1973)
The Four Musketeers (1974)
The Wild Party (1975)
Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976)
The Animal (1977)
Crossed Swords (1978)
Trouble in Paradise (1989)
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) (Cameo)
Chairman of the Board (1998)
What I Did for Love (1998)
Tortilla Soup (2001)
Legally Blonde (2001)
Jim Brown: All American (2002) (documentary)
Forget About It (2005)Upcoming:
Staar (2006)
The Hollywood Palace (regular performer in 1964)
Raquel! (1970)
The Legend of Walks Far Woman (1982)
Right to Die (1987)
Scandal in a Small Town (1988)
Trouble in Paradise (1989)
Tainted Blood (1993)
Torch Song (1993)
Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby (1994) (voice)
Central Park West (1995) (pilot for series)
Central Park West (cast member in 1996)
American Family (2002-2004)
At the peak of her career, Raquel Welch was as famous for her bustline as
Jennifer Lopez is for her "bottom" line today, or more so. Some examples of cultural references:
*A
Johnny Carson "
Carnac" joke: :
Answer: "Divine Right." :
Question: "Describe half of Raquel Welch."
*In episode 13 of
Monty Python's Flying Circus, (first airing
January 11,
1970) a
reporter is interviewing two boys::
Interviewer: Would you like to have a sixteen-ton weight dropped on top of you, Eric?:
Boy: I want to have... I want to have Raquel Welch dropped on top of me.
*In the film
Kansas City Bomber, she wore a number 11 on her jersey. The running gag at the time was that it meant "1 for each one".
*She has often been called "Rocky", a nickname more typical of male athletes, such as
boxers. It carries the double meaning of being short for "Raquel" as well as saying that she's a "
knockout".
*A
starting hand of 8-3 in
Texas hold 'em is named after her.
*In the 1994 film
The Shawshank Redemption, the main character keeps Welch's iconic pin-up from
One Million Years B.C. on the wall of his prison cell.
*
