Jo Raquel Welch (; September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023) was an American actress. Welch first gained attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (1966), after which she signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer Film Productions, for whom she made One Million Years B.C. (1966). Although Welch had only three lines of dialogue in the film, images of her in a doe-skin bikini became bestselling posters that turned her into an international sex symbol. She later starred in Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero! (1968), 100 Rifles (1969), Myra Breckinridge (1970), Hannie Caulder (1971), Kansas City Bomber (1972), The Last of Sheila (1973), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Wild Party (1975), and Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976). She made several television variety specials.
Through her portrayal of strong female characters, helping her break the mold of the traditional sex symbol, Welch developed a unique film persona that made her an icon of the 1960s and 1970s. Her rise to stardom in the mid-1960s was partly credited with ending Hollywood's vigorous promotion of the blonde bombshell.Longworth, Karina. (October 21, 2014). "Raquel Welch, From Pin-up to Pariah" You Must Remember This. Retrieved December 1, 2016.Öncü, Ece. (February 9, 2012). Spend the Weekend with Raquel Welch and Film Society Film Society of Lincoln Center Retrieved August 5, 2015.Heavey, John. (February 23, 2012). Video: Two Conversations with Raquel Welch Film Society of Lincoln Center Retrieved August 2015. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy in 1974 for her performance as Constance Bonacieux in The Three Musketeers and reprised the role in its sequel the following year. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Television Film for her performance in Right to Die (1987). Her final film was How to Be a Latin Lover (2017). In 1995, Welch was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History". Playboy ranked Welch No.3 on their "100 Sexiest Stars of the Twentieth Century" list.
Early life
Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to San Diego, California, at age two with her family. She was the first child of Josephine Sarah Hall and Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo. Her mother was of English descent with ancestors tracing back to the Mayflower. Alt URL Her father was an aeronautical engineer from La Paz, Bolivia, of Spanish descent. Her cousin, Bolivian politician Lidia Gueiler Tejada, became the first female president of Bolivia and the second female non-royal head of state in the Americas. Welch had a younger brother and a younger sister.
Welch was raised in the Presbyterian denomination and attended Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church every Sunday with her family. Alt URL 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. At age 14, she won beauty titles as Miss Photogenic and Miss Contour. While attending La Jolla High School she won the title of Miss La Jolla and the title of Miss San Diegothe Fairest of the Fairat the San Diego County Fair. This long line of beauty contests eventually led to the state title of Maid of California.Stone, Joe. (June 24, 1958). "Fairest Queen's a Triple-A Girl" Evening Tribune. Retrieved March 17, 2023, from The San Diego Tribune. Her parents divorced when she finished school.Welch, Raquel. (2010). Raquel Welch: Beyond the Cleavage. New York: Weinstein Books. pp. 3–28.
Welch graduated with honors from high school in 1958. Seeking an acting career, she entered San Diego State College on a theater arts scholarship, and the following year she married her high school sweetheart, James Welch, with whom she had two children. She assumed his last name and kept it throughout her life.Giammarco, David. (2001, July & Aug.). "Raquel Welch: The Goddess Factor" Cigar Aficionado She won several parts in local theater productions.
In 1960, Welch got a job as a weather presenter at KFMB, a local San Diego television station. Because her family life and television duties were so demanding, she decided to give up her drama classes. She separated from James Welch, and moved with her two children to Dallas, Texas, where she made a "precarious living" as a model for Neiman Marcus and as a cocktail waitress.
Career 1964–1966: Early works and breakthrough Welch originally 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. During this period she met one-time child actor and Hollywood agent Patrick Curtis, who became her personal and business manager. They developed a plan to turn Welch into a sex symbol. To avoid typecasting as a Latina, he convinced her to use her ex-husband's surname. She was cast in small roles in two films, A House Is Not a Home (1964) and the Elvis Presley musical Roustabout (1964). She also had small roles on the television series Bewitched, McHale's Navy and The Virginian, and appeared on the weekly variety series The Hollywood Palace as a billboard girl and presenter. She was one of many actresses who auditioned for the role of Mary Ann Summers on the television series Gilligan's Island.
Welch's first featured role was in the beach film A Swingin' Summer (1965). She won the Deb Star that year, while her photo in a Life magazine layout called "The End of the Great Girl Drought!" created a buzz around town. She was strongly considered for the role of Domino in Thunderball and was also noticed by the wife of producer Saul David, who recommended her to 20th Century Fox, which signed her to a seven-year non-exclusive contract covering five pictures over the next five years and two floaters. Studio executives considered changing her name to "Debbie", thought easier to pronounce than "Raquel"; she refused, wanting her real name "Raquel Welch".Raquel Welch [Interview by Piers Morgan]. (October 20, 2015). In Piers Morgan's Life Stories. London, England: ITV.Associated Press. (June 28, 2015). Raquel Welch: 'The essence of who I am is a Latina' . Retrieved October 4, 2015, from Fox News After screen testing for Saul David's Our Man Flint, she was cast in a leading role in David's sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage (1966), in which she portrayed a member of a medical team that is miniaturized 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.
Fox loaned Welch to Hammer Studios in Britain where she starred in the science fiction film One Million Years B.C. (1966), a remake of the Hal Roach film One Million B.C. (1940). Her only costume was a two-piece deerskin bikini; she was described as "wearing mankind's first bikini" and the fur bikini was described as a "definitive look of the 1960s". The New York Times hailed her in its review of the film, released in the UK in 1966 and in the U.S. in 1967, as a "marvelous breathing monument to womankind".One Million Years B.C.' Presents a Nice Live Raquel Welch", (February 22, 1967). The New York Times. 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". A publicity still of her in the bikini became a bestselling poster and turned her into an instant pin-up girl. The film raised Welch's stature as a leading sex symbol of the era. In 2011, Time magazine listed Welch's B.C. bikini in the "Top Ten Bikinis in Pop Culture".
In 1966, Welch starred with Marcello Mastroianni in the Italian crime film Shoot Loud, Louder... I Don't Understand for Joseph E. Levine."Raquel Welch: Living Up to Her Legend" Weller, George. Los Angeles Times September 11, 1966: N10. The same year, she appeared in the film Sex Quartet as Elena in the segment "Fata Elena". She was the only American in the cast of the anthology comedy film The Oldest Profession (1967); her segment was directed by Michael Pfleghar. In Italy, she also appeared in a heist film for MGM, The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968). It co-starred Edward G. Robinson, who said of Welch, "I must say she has quite a body. She has been the product of a good publicity campaign. I hope she lives up to it because a body will only take you so far.""Edward G. Robinson – Mr. Bad Guy Never Had It So Good: Edward Robinson" Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times February 28, 1967: d1.
1967–1979: International stardom Her first starring vehicle, the British Modesty Blaise-style spy film Fathom (1967), was filmed in Spain for 20th Century Fox. Second unit director Peter 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.""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. Welch said her role was "a blown up Barbie doll"."Sex Goddess Is Human, After All" Los Angeles Times June 9, 1968: c12. Reviewing her performance, the Los Angeles Times film critic said that "each new Raquel Welch picture brings further proof that when Maria 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."Fathom' Playing on Citywide Screens" Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times August 10, 1967: d16.
At this stage, Welch owed Fox four films, at one a year. She and Curtis also established their own production company, Curtwel. Fox wanted Welch to play Jennifer in their adaptation of Valley of the Dolls but she refused, wanting to play the role of Neely O'Hara. The studio was not interested, casting Patty Duke; Sharon Tate played Jennifer North."Wonder Woman!!" Hallowell, John. Los Angeles Times July 14, 1968: o26.
In England, she appeared as Lust incarnate in the Peter Cook–Dudley Moore comedy, Bedazzled (1967), a Swinging Sixties retelling of the Faust legend. It was popular, as was the Western, Bandolero! (1968), which was shot in Del Rio, Texas, at the Alamo Village. She co-starred with James Stewart and Dean Martin. "I think she's going to stack up all right," Stewart said of Welch."Movie Making—30 Years of Fun for Jimmy Stewart: Jimmy Stewart Stewart's 30 Years" Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times October 15, 1967: d19. "No one is going to shout, 'Wow it's Anne Bancroft all over again'," said Welch of her performance, "but at least I'm not Miss Sexpot running around half naked all the time."
In 1968, Welch appeared with Frank Sinatra in the detective film Lady in Cement, a sequel to the film Tony 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."Wenn. (April 10, 2017). "Raquel Welch: 'I was awful in Sinatra film'" Retrieved April 15, 2017, from XPOSÉ.ie.