Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940, inChicago, Illinois, and moved toSan Diego,[5][6] California, at age two with her family. She was the first child of Josephine Sarah Hall and Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo.[7][8] Her mother was ofEnglish descent with ancestors tracing back to theMayflower; she was the daughter of Clara Louise Adams and architect Emery Stanford Hall.[9][10] Her father was anaeronautical engineer fromLa Paz, Bolivia, of Spanish descent; he was the son of Raquel Urquizo and Agustin Tejada.[11][10][12][13] Her cousin, Bolivian politicianLidia Gueiler Tejada, became the first female president of Bolivia and the second female non-royal head of state in the Americas.[14] Welch had a younger brother, James ("Jim"), and a younger sister, Gayle.[15]
Welch was raised in thePresbyterian religion and attended Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church every Sunday with her family.[7][16][17] As a young girl, Welch had the desire to be a performer and entertainer. She began studying ballet at age seven, but after ten years of study, she left the art at seventeen when her instructor told her she did not have the right body type for professional ballet companies.[18] At age 14, she wonbeauty titles as Miss Photogenic and Miss Contour.[19] While attendingLa Jolla High School she won the title of Miss La Jolla and the title of Miss San Diego – the Fairest of the Fair – at theSan Diego County Fair.[20] This long line of beauty contests eventually led to the state title of Maid of California.[21] Her parents divorced when she finished her school years.[22]
Welch graduated with honors from high school in 1958.[23][21] Seeking an acting career, she enteredSan Diego State College on a theater arts scholarship,[24] and the following year she married her high school sweetheart, James Welch. She assumed his last name and kept it throughout her life.[25] She won several parts in local theater productions.[19]
In 1960, Welch got a job as aweather presenter atKFMB, a local San Diego television station.[26] Because her family life and television duties were so demanding, she decided to give up her drama classes. After her separation from James Welch, she moved with her two children toDallas, Texas, where she made a "precarious living" as a model forNeiman Marcus and as acocktail waitress.[19]
Welch initially intended to move to New York City from Dallas, but moved back to Los Angeles in 1963 and started applying for roles with film studios.[19] During this period, she met a one-time child actor and Hollywood agentPatrick Curtis who became her personal and business manager.[24] They developed a plan to turn Welch into asex symbol.[19] To avoidtypecasting as aLatina, he convinced her to use her ex-husband's surname.[19] She was cast in small roles in two films,A House Is Not a Home (1964) and the musicalRoustabout (1964), anElvis Presley film. She also landed small roles on the television seriesBewitched,McHale's Navy andThe Virginian and appeared on the weekly variety seriesThe Hollywood Palace as a billboard girl and presenter. She was one of many actresses who auditioned for the role ofMary Ann Summers on the television seriesGilligan's Island.
Welch's first featured role was in the beach filmA Swingin' Summer (1965). That same year, she won the Deb Star while her photo in aLife magazine layout called "The End of the Great Girl Drought!" created a buzz around town.[27] She was strongly considered for the role of Domino inThunderball[28] and was also noticed by the wife of producerSaul David, who recommended her to20th Century Fox, where with the help of Curtis she landed a contract.[19] She agreed to a seven-year nonexclusive contract, five pictures over the next five years, and two floaters.[24] Studio executives talked about changing her name to "Debbie". They thought "Raquel" would be hard to pronounce. She refused their request. She wanted her real name, so she stuck with "Raquel Welch".[29][30] After screen testing for Saul David'sOur Man Flint,[31] she was cast in a leading role in David's sci-fi filmFantastic Voyage (1966), in which she portrayed a member of a medical team that isminiaturized and injected into the body of an injured scientist with the mission to save his life. The film was a hit and made her a star.[19]
This 1966 promotional still of Welch in the deerskin bikini became a bestselling poster and turned her into an instant pin-up girl.
Fox loaned Welch toHammer Studios in Britain where she starred in the science fiction filmOne Million Years B.C. (1966), a remake of theHal Roach filmOne Million B.C. (1940). Her only costume wasa two-piece deer skin bikini. She was described as "wearing mankind's first bikini" and the fur bikini was described as a "definitive look of the 1960s".[32][33]The New York Times hailed her in its review of the film (which was released in the UK in 1966 and in the U.S. in 1967), "a marvelous breathing monument to womankind".[34] One author said, "although she had only three lines in the film, her luscious figure in a fur bikini made her a star and the dream girl of millions of young moviegoers".[19] A publicity still of her in the bikini became a bestselling poster and turned her into an instantpin-up girl.[35] The film raised Welch's stature as a leadingsex symbol of the era.[36] In 2011,Time magazine listed Welch'sB.C. bikini in the "Top Ten Bikinis in Pop Culture".[37]
Her first starring vehicle, the BritishModesty Blaise-style spy filmFathom (1967), was filmed in Spain for 20th Century Fox. Second unit directorPeter Medak said Welch "was at that time quite inexperienced, exactly like one of those American drum majorettes. But she tried very hard and went to see the rushes each day, gradually improving. 'Who's this dumb broad?' people used to say. But I said: 'You wait. I'll bet she makes it.' I liked her very much because she was such a genuine person. And she had a beautiful body which always helps."[40] Welch said her role was "a blown upBarbie doll".[41] Reviewing her performance, theLos Angeles Times film critic said that "each new Raquel Welch picture brings further proof that whenMaria Montez died they didn't break the mold. Like Maria, Raquel can't act from here to there, but both ladies seem to have been born to be photographed ... this sappiest of spy pictures."[42]
At this stage, Welch owed Fox four films, at one a year. She and Curtis also established their own production company, Curtwel.[38] Fox wanted Welch to play Jennifer intheir adaptation ofValley of the Dolls but she refused, wanting to play the role of Neely O'Hara. The studio was not interested, castingPatty Duke;Sharon Tate played Jennifer North.[43]
In 1968, Welch appeared withFrank Sinatra in the detective filmLady in Cement, a sequel to the filmTony Rome (1967). She played the socialite Kit Forrest, the romantic interest of Tony Rome. Welch later said wittily that she caught the film from time to time and realized only later that Kit Forrest was an alcoholic: "I'm watching this movie and I'm thinking, 'What the hell has she got on?' At one point, I had this epiphany: 'Oh, she's an alcoholic!' I didn't know that. How could I miss that?" She reportedly was so smitten with Sinatra that she forgot to act: "I think I was just so enamored with Frank Sinatra, you know. He's hypnotic."[45]
Welch starred as a freedom fighter leader in100 Rifles, a 1969 western directed by Tom Gries and filmed inAlmería, Spain. It also starredJim Brown,Burt Reynolds, andFernando Lamas. The film provoked publicity and controversy at the time because it included a love scene between Welch and Brown that breached Hollywood's taboo against onscreen interracial intimacy.[46] The film is remembered for the spectacular "Shower Scene" in which Welch distracts the soldiers on the train by taking a shower at awater tower along the tracks. The director, Gries, tried hard to convince Welch to do the scene naked, but she refused. It was one of the many instances Welch resisted going nude on-screen and pushed back for years against producers who wanted her to act or pose nude.[47][48] In 1969, Welch also starred in the thrillerFlareup and had a supporting role in the dark comedyThe Magic Christian.
Welch's most controversial role came inMyra Breckinridge (1970). She took the role of the film'stranssexual heroine in an attempt to be taken seriously as an actress.[49][48] The production was characterized by animosity between Welch andMae West, who walked out of the film for three days. The film was based onGore Vidal's controversial bestseller about a man who becomes a woman through surgery. The film's producerRobert Fryer stated: "If a man were going to become a woman, he would want to become the most beautiful woman in the world. He would become Raquel Welch".[50]
Her looks and fame ledPlayboy to dub her the "Most Desired Woman" of the 1970s. Welch presented at theAcademy Awards ceremony several times during the 1970s due to her popularity.[51][52] She accepted the Best Supporting Actress Oscar on behalf of fellow actressGoldie Hawn when Hawn could not be there to accept it.[53]
On April 26, 1970,CBS released her television specialRaquel![54] On the day of the premiere, the show received a 51 percent share on the National ARB Ratings and an overnight New YorkNielsen rating of 58 percent share.[55] Also that year Welch starred inThe Beloved with co-starRichard Johnson, which she co-produced and filmed inCyprus.[56]
In 1971, Welch had the title role inHannie Caulder, a Western produced byTigon and Curtwel, which was shot in Spain. Welch was one of the few actresses, and one of the earliest, who had a lead role in a Western film.Hannie Caulder was a significant influence on later revenge films,[57] with director Quentin Tarantino citing it as an inspiration for his 2003 film,Kill Bill: Volume 1.[58][59]
Welch in 1976
The following year, in 1972, Welch starred inKansas City Bomber, in which she played a hardened derby star and single mother who tries to balance her desire for a happy personal life and her dreams of stardom.Life magazine dubbed Welch the "hottest thing on wheels" for her role. The production of the film shut down for six weeks after Welch broke her wrist doing some of her own stunts.[60] In the interim, she flew to Budapest and filmed a cameo inBluebeard oppositeRichard Burton, and was photographed at a lavish party thrown by Burton for his then-wifeElizabeth Taylor's fortieth birthday, even though Taylor had specifically uninvited her.[61][62] Despite not being considered a critical success,Kansas City Bomber was noted for its depiction of gender relations in the early 1970s.[63] In a 2012 interview withGQ, Welch reflected on the roller derby world depicted in the film: "You have all those women out there, but the men in the front office are really running it. Which I thought was a really nice metaphor for the way a lot of women felt about their lives at that time."[36] Also in 1972, Welch reunited with Burt Reynolds for the detective filmFuzz.
In 1977, Welch acted in the French filmAnimal, co-starring withJean-Paul Belmondo. She also starred in the British swashbuckling adventureThe Prince and the Pauper. Welch made a guest appearance onThe Muppet Show in 1978,[67] where she sang "I'm a Woman" withMiss Piggy.[66] The following year, Welch guest-starred as Captain Nirvana, an alien bounty hunter, in an episode ofMork & Mindy titled "Mork vs. the Necrotons".[68][69]
In 1982, Welch starred in the WesternThe Legend of Walks Far Woman forNBC.[70] Billed as her "first TV movie dramatic debut", Welch played a 19th-century Native American woman in Montana.[70] In the summer of 1982, Welch was among the candidates considered for the role ofAlexis Carrington on theABC primetime dramaDynasty, along with Elizabeth Taylor andSophia Loren, before the producers settled onJoan Collins.[71]
Welch at the 39th Emmy Awards Governor's Ball in September 1987
In 1987, Welch starred in the television dramaRight to Die, an "unglamorous" role in which she portrayed a college professor and mother of two stricken withLou Gehrig's disease, and asks to die with dignity.[72]
In 1996, Welch joined the cast of the night-time soap operaCentral Park West, after CBS had already slated it for cancellation, as creatorDarren Star made a final attempt to save the show by boosting its ratings late in its first season.[76] She was a guest star on the American comedy seriesSabrina, the Teenage Witch (1997), playing Sabrina's flamboyant Aunt Vesta from the realm called the Pleasuredome.[77]
Welch acted in the Season 8 finale of the comedy seriesSeinfeld, titled "The Summer of George" (1997), playing an exaggerated and highly temperamental version of herself.[78][79] In the episode, ranked byZap2it as one of the top 10 episodes ofSeinfeld, series characterKramer is forced to fire Welch from the lead role in a fictionalTony Award-winning musical called "Scarsdale Surprise", while the characterElaine gets into a "catfight" with her after a chance encounter on the street.[78]Entertainment Weekly wrote, "By delivering a pitch-perfect performance as a fire-breathing prima donna, Welch also poked fun at her reputation (fairly earned or not) for being difficult to work with."[78]
Welch in 2000
In 2002, Welch co-starred in thePBS seriesAmerican Family, a story about a Mexican American family inEast Los Angeles, withEdward James Olmos.[80] Her role as Aunt Dora, the "drama queen of the family", marked the first time in her 40-year career that Welch had acknowledged her heritage as aLatina.[80]
Welch in 2010
In 2008, Welch appeared inWelcome to The Captain onCBS, playing a "sultry actress"; according to one critic, she was "spoofing herself".[81] She guest starred onCSI: Miami in 2012 and played Aunt Lucia in the 2013Lifetime original movieHouse of Versace. In 2015, she portrayed Miss Sally May Anderson in the television dramaThe Ultimate Legacy.[82]
Welch played the mother-in-law ofBarry Watson's character in a Canadian sitcom titledDate My Dad (2017) where she reunited withRobert Wagner on screen, five decades after starring together inThe Biggest Bundle of Them All.[83]
Welch was due to star in a 1982 adaptation ofJohn Steinbeck'sCannery Row, but was abruptly fired by the producers a few weeks into production. The studio claimed she was not living up to her contract, by refusing early-morning rehearsals, and was replaced withDebra Winger. Welch suedMGM for breach of contract.[84] Studio executives claimed in testimony the reason Welch was following through with the trial was that she was an actress over 40 and generally actresses in that age range cannot get roles any more. Welch's evidence at trial proved there was a conspiracy to falsely blame her for the film's budget problems and delays. The jury sided with Welch and she won a $10.8 million verdict against MGM in 1986.[85][86]
Despite the win, Welch wished the whole episode never had happened. "I just wanted to clear my reputation and get back to my work, my work in movies", she said.[87] But she was blackballed by the industry and the incident affected her film career on the big screen from that moment on.[88]
In December 1972, Welch made hernightclub debut at theLas Vegas Hilton;[94] her act precededElvis Presley's.[95] Over the next decade, she took her nightclub act to other venues, and starred in television specials featuring her singing and dancing.[70] She released the dance single "This Girl's Back In Town", which peaked at No. 29 onBillboard's dance club chart in 1988,[96] along with a music video.[72]
In December 1981, Welch starred onBroadway inWoman of the Year for two weeks, filling in forLauren Bacall in the title role while Bacall was on vacation.[70] Critics were so enthusiastic about Welch's performance, she was invited back to perform the role again for six months in 1982.[70]
In 1997, Welch starred on Broadway inVictor/Victoria, followingJulie Andrews andLiza Minnelli in the title role. Theatre critic Jamie Portman wrote that her glamor made Welch "scarcely believable as the vulnerable Victoria and totally unbelievable as the swaggering tuxedoed Victor", but that she at least "earns high marks for valor" for attempting to breathe life into "the misbegotten musical version ofVictor/Victoria".[97]
In 1975, Welch won aGolden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy forThe Three Musketeers. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the television dramaRight to Die (1987).[98] In 1996, Welch received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 7021Hollywood Boulevard.[99] In 2001, she was awarded the Imagen Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for her positive promotion of Americans of Latin heritage throughout her career.[100][101] In 2012, theFilm Society of Lincoln Center presented a special retrospective of the films of Welch at the Walter Reade Theater.[102]
The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program book and videos were first released in 1984. The book, written by Welch with photographs byAndré Weinfeld, includes ahatha yoga fitness program, her views on healthy living and nutrition, as well as beauty and personal style. The Multi-Platinum collection of Fitness and Yoga videos were produced and directed byAndré Weinfeld. As a businesswoman, Welch succeeded 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 collectionHAIRuWEAR.[103]
In January 2007, Welch was selected as the newest face ofMAC Cosmetics Beauty Icon series. Her line features several limited-edition makeup shades in glossy black and tiger-print packaging. The tiger print motif of the collection celebrates Welch's feline and sensuous image: "strong and wild, yet sultry and exotic".[104][105]
Her personal beauty regime included abstinence from alcohol and tobacco; daily yoga; and moisturising withBag Balm.[106]
Welch married her high school sweetheart, James Welch, in Las Vegas on May 8, 1959. They had two children, Damon (born November 6, 1959) andTahnee (born December 26, 1961). The couple separated in 1962 and divorced in 1964; she retained Welch's surname until her death in 2023.[22][107]
She married publicistPatrick Curtis in Paris on February 14, 1967, and they divorced on January 6, 1972.[108] Curtis later claimed to the tabloids that Welch got an abortion during their marriage.[109] Spanish media reported that during the shooting of100 Rifles in Spain in 1968, Welch, while married to Curtis, had a relationship with Spanish actorSancho Gracia, who had a small role in the film, and that Welch's husband, upon finding out about the affair, chased Gracia at gunpoint through the hotel where they were staying inAguadulce.[108][110][111] Subsequent boyfriends included football playerJoe Namath, producerRobert Evans and comedianFreddie Prinze.[112]
Welch andAndré Weinfeld at the premiere ofThe Rose in 1979, a year before their marriage
On July 5, 1980, she married producerAndré Weinfeld inCabo San Lucas.[113] In early February 1983, while vacationing inMustique, Welch suffered a miscarriage three months into her pregnancy.[114] Her marriage to Weinfeld ended in August 1990.[107]
In 1996, after keeping a low romantic profile for several years, she dated former British boxing championGary Stretch, who was younger than both of Welch's children.[115]
Welch wed Richie Palmer, co-owner of Mulberry Street Pizzeria, on July 17, 1999, at her home in Beverly Hills. Palmer, who had one son from a previous marriage, broke off his engagement with business partner and actressCathy Moriarty to pursue Welch in October 1997.[116] The pair separated in August 2003 and divorced a year later.[117][118]
Welch wasPresbyterian, the religion of her childhood, and had said, "I remembered the wonderful sense of peace I'd felt when sitting under the protection and grace of my mother's faith." She was a faithful member of Calvary Presbyterian Church inGlendale, which she described as a "beautiful little church" where the people "weren't Hollywood types. They were modest, unassuming, cheerful and friendly. They welcomed me." Welch's faith helped her after the death of her mother, a devout Presbyterian, and her sister's recovery from cancer.[122][123]
While her image in the 1960s was that of a torrid sex temptress, Welch's private life was quite different.[124][125][126] Welch once famously said, "What I do on the screen is not to be equated with what I do in my private life. Privately, I am understated and dislike any hoopla."[127] She also admitted, "I was not brought up to be a sex symbol, nor is it in my nature to be one. The fact that I became one is probably the loveliest, most glamorous, and fortunate misunderstanding."[128]
Welch posed forPlayboy in 1979, but she never did a fully nude shoot.Hugh Hefner later wrote, "Raquel Welch, one of the last of the classic sex symbols, came from the era when you could be considered the sexiest woman in the world without taking your clothes off. She declined to do complete nudity, and I yielded gracefully. The pictures prove her point."[129] Welch refused to take all her clothes off on screen or pose naked throughout her career spanning five decades, saying this was the way she was brought up.[130]
Welch died from cardiac arrest on February 15, 2023, at her home in Los Angeles. She was 82. At the time of her death, Welch was also suffering fromAlzheimer's disease.[134][135][136]
Welch helped transform America's feminine ideal into its current state. Her beautiful looks and eroticism made her the definitive 1960s and 1970s sex icon, rather than the blonde bombshell of the late 1950s as typified byMarilyn Monroe,Jayne Mansfield, and others.[137][138][139] Welch became a star in the mid-1960s and was exotic, brunette, and smolderingly sexual.[140][141][142] Her countless publicity photos helped to popularize her image,[143] dress style, and 1960s and 1970s fashion trends.[144] Welch and other actresses also madebig hair popular.[145][146]
Welch is mentioned in the 1970 song "Raquel Welch" byShel Silverstein[147] and in the 1971 song, "One's on the Way" also written by Silverstein but made popular byLoretta Lynn. Welch is also mentioned in "Unknown Stuntman", the theme song toThe Fall Guy, starringLee Majors, who also recorded the song. She is also mentioned in theAl Jarreau song "Love Is Real" from the Grammy-winning 1980 albumThis Time, where Jarreau sings "Raquel and Redford are the tops".
^ab"Raquel Welch".Hollywood Walk of Fame. October 25, 2019.Archived from the original on December 24, 2023.
^Welch, Raquel (2010).Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage. Hachette Books. p. 4.ISBN9781602861176.Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. RetrievedMarch 17, 2020.I was born in 1940 in the Windy City, Chicago. Not ideal for a new-born baby girl.
^Welch, Raquel (2010).Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage. Hachette Books. p. 4.ISBN9781602861176.Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. RetrievedMarch 17, 2020.I was born in 1940 in the Windy City, Chicago. Not ideal for a newborn baby girl with thin Mediterranean blood, courtesy of my Spanish father.
^Welch, Raquel (2010).Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage. Hachette Books. p. 8.ISBN978-1-60286-117-6.Mom attended church every Sunday with all three of us kids in tow... dressed up and polished. We attended the Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church.Alt URL
^ab"Raquel Welch: Living Up to Her Legend"Weller, George.Los Angeles Times September 11, 1966: N10.
^"Edward G. Robinson—Mr. Bad Guy Never Had It So Good: EDWARD ROBINSON" Thomas, Kevin.Los Angeles Times February 28, 1967: d1.
^"Class will tell: Derek Malcolm interviews Peter Medak, a director who is at last making his impact on the British cinema" Malcolm, Derek.The Guardian London, May 15, 1972: 10.
^ab"Sex Goddess Is Human, After All"Los Angeles Times June 9, 1968: c12.
^"'Fathom' Playing on Citywide Screens" Thomas, Kevin.Los Angeles Times August 10, 1967: d16.
^"WONDER WOMAN!!" Hallowell, John.Los Angeles Times July 14, 1968: o26.
^"Movie Making—30 Years of Fun for Jimmy Stewart: Jimmy Stewart Stewart's 30 Years" Thomas, Kevin.Los Angeles Times October 15, 1967: d19.
^Gleich, J. (2011). "Jim Brown: from integration to resegregation in The Dirty Dozen and 100 Rifles"Cinema Journal, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Fall 2011), pages 1–25.
^Goldstein, Norman (November 29, 1970)."Raquel Welch Charms Cyprus".The Tyler Courier-Times. Associated Press.Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. RetrievedFebruary 18, 2023 – viaNewspapers.com.
^Bozzacchi, Gianni; Tayler, Joey (2017).My Life in Focus: A Photographer's Journey with Elizabeth Taylor and the Hollywood Jet Set. The University Press of Kentucky. pp. 199, 203, 205.ISBN9780813168746.
^abNavarro, Mireya (June 12, 2002)."I, Latina".The Albuquerque Tribune.Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. RetrievedFebruary 16, 2023 – viaNewspapers.com.
^Welch, Raquel (2010).Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage. Weinstein Books. p. 265.ISBN978-1-60286-097-1.I also thought back to the countless times she had taken me to church as a child and remembered the wonderful sense of peace I'd felt when sitting under the protection and grace of my mother's faith.
^Strodder, Chris. (2007).The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool: A Celebration of the Grooviest People, Events, and Artifacts of the 1960s. CA: Santa Monica Press.
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