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Raquel Welch

Biography

More a sex goddess than an actress, the statuesque Raquel Welch was one of the most popular celebrities of the 1960s and 1970s. While she appeared in dozens of films, they earned little notice, her success depending almost exclusively on her stature as a buxom pin-up. Born Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940, in Chicago, she began taking dancing lessons as a child and by her teens was already winning beauty contests. At the age of 18, she married high school sweetheart James Welch; the couple had two children before divorcing in 1961. After working in Dallas, TX, as a waitress and model, Welch relocated to Hollywood in 1963; within three days, she had already landed a manager, Patrick Curtis, and soon they formed a promotions company, Curtwell Enterprises. After appearing in Life magazine in a revealing bikini, she began working on the ABC series Hollywood Palace, and in 1964 made her feature debut with an unbilled appearance in the Elvis Presley vehicle Roustabout. Welch next appeared as a prostitute in 1964's A House Is Not a Home, followed by another uncredited appearance a year later in Do Not Disturb. In 1965, she scored her first lead role in the pop musical A Swingin' Summer, resulting in a contract with 20th Century Fox, which cast her in the sci-fi hit Fantastic Voyage before loaning her to the British horror studio Hammer. There she starred in a 1967 remake of One Million Years B.C.; clad in little more than strategically placed strips of fur, Welch's publicity stills appeared everywhere, and she became a major sex symbol -- still, few went to actually see the movie itself. Despite the publicity, Fox was clearly wary of her talents, and did not ask her to return to Hollywood; instead she remained in Europe, starring with Edward G. Robinson and Vittorio de Sica in 1968's The Biggest Bundle of Them All and with Monica Vitti and Claudia Cardinale in Le Fate. While in Paris, Welch and manager Curtis married, issuing a series of provocative wedding night publicity photos.

After appearing as Lust incarnate in Stanley Donen's seven-deadly-sins comedy Bedazzled, Welch finally returned to the U.S. Fox used her judiciously in pictures like the 1968 James Stewart Western Bandolero! and the Frank Sinatra mystery Lady in Cement. Following in 1969 was 100 Rifles, a controversial Western which paired Welch with Jim Brown, and a year later she earned her first real starring role in the disastrous Myra Breckenridge. Her situation was unusual; she was certainly a star and a household name, yet few people ever went to see her movies -- neither 1971's Hannie Caulder nor the following year's Fuzz did anything to alter the dilemma, and when the 1973 roller-derby melodrama Kansas City Bomber also tanked at the box office, Welch divorced Curtis and returned to Europe to appear in Bluebeard. While both 1973's The Three Musketeers and its sequel The Four Musketeers were well received, she earned little credit for their success, and when the 1976 black comedy Mother, Jugs and Speed failed, Hollywood largely washed their hands of her.

Welch instead turned to nightclubs, concert stages, and television; she also continued making films in Europe, including 1977's The Prince and the Pauper and L' Animal, co-starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. In 1980, she was tapped to star in Cannery Row, but was fired a month into production; she filed suit against MGM for damages, and was awarded 11 million dollars. Welch spent the

entirety of the 1980s away from theaters, focusing primarily on television productions like 1982's The Legend of Walks Far Woman and 1987's Right to Die, in which she delivered one of her strongest performances as a woman suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. After an absence of over a decade, in 1994 Welch returned to cinema in the comedy The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult.

Throughout the decade, she also made a number of infomercials and exercise videos, and in 1995 also starred in the short-lived nighttime soap opera CPW. In 1997, she took over for Julie Andrews in the troubled Broadway musical Victor/Victoria, which closed less than a month after Welch's debut performance. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Actor

How to Be a Latin Lover

2017

as Celeste

The Ultimate Legacy

2015

as Sally May Anderson

House of Versace

2013

as Lucia

Forget About It

2006

as Christine DeLee

Tortilla Soup

2001

as Hortensia

Legally Blonde

2001

as Mrs. Windham Vandermark

What I Did for Love

1998

as Jacqueline

Chairman of the Board

1998

as Grace Kosik

Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult

1994

as Raquel Welch (uncredited)

Fertile La Toyah Video Magazine #2: The Kinky Issue!

1994

The Flintstones: Hollyrock a Bye Baby

1993

as Shelly Millstone (voice)

Torch Song

1993

as Paula Eastman

Tainted Blood

1993

as Elizabeth Hayes

Trouble in Paradise

1989

as Rachel Baxley

Scandal in a Small Town

1988

as Leda Beth Vincent

Right to Die

1987

as Emily Bauer

Muppet Video: The Kermit and Piggy Story

1985

as Raquel Welch

From Raquel with Love

1980

as Self

The Legend of Walks Far Woman

1980

as Walks Far Woman

The Muppets Go Hollywood

1979

as Self

Animal

1977

as Jane Gardner

The Prince and the Pauper

1977

as Lady Edith

Mother, Jugs & Speed

1976

as Jugs

Rona Looks at Raquel, Liza, Cher and Ann-Margret

1975

The Wild Party

1975

as Queenie

The Four Musketeers

1974

as Constance de Bonancieux

Really, Raquel

1974

as Herself

The Three Musketeers

1973

as Constance de Bonancieux

The Last of Sheila

1973

as Alice

Bluebeard

1972

as Magdalena

Kansas City Bomber

1972

as K.C. Carr

Fuzz

1972

as Det. Eileen McHenry

Hannie Caulder

1971

as Hannie Caulder

Sin

1971

as Elena

Myra Breckinridge

1970

as Myra Breckinridge

Raquel!

1970

as Self

The Magic Christian

1969

as Priestess of the Whip

Flareup

1969

as Michele

100 Rifles

1969

as Sarita

Lady in Cement

1968

as Kit Forrest

Bandolero!

1968

as Maria Stoner

The Biggest Bundle of Them All

1968

as Juliana

Bedazzled

1967

as Lilian Lust

Fathom

1967

as Fathom Harvill

The Oldest Profession

1967

as Nini (segment "La belle époque")

One Million Years B.C.

1966

as Loana

Shoot Loud, Louder... I Don't Understand

1966

as Tania Montini

Fantastic Voyage

1966

as Cora

The Queens

1966

as Elena ("Fata Elena")

Do Not Disturb

1965

as Woman In Lobby (uncredited)

A Swingin' Summer

1965

as Jeri Mason

Roustabout

1964

as College Girl (uncredited)

A House Is Not a Home

1964

as Call Girl

Documentaries

Jim Henson Idea Man

2024

as Self (archive footage)

And the Oscar Goes To...

2014

as Self (archive footage)

Lt. Dan Band: For the Common Good

2011

as Self

Los Angeles Plays Itself

2004

as Michele in Flareup (archive footage)

Sex at 24 Frames Per Second

2003

as Self

The Kid Stays in the Picture

2002

as Self (archive footage)

Jim Brown: All-American

2002

as Self

Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood

2001

as Self (archive footage)

Hollywood at Your Feet: The Story of the Chinese Theatre Footprints

2000

as Self - Hostess

Get Bruce!

1999

as Self

Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1

1999

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Sex, Censorship and the Silver Screen

1996

as Narrator

Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell

1995

as Self

Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror

1994

as Self

Night of 100 Stars III

1990

as Self

Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC

1988

as Self (archive footage)

Night of 100 Stars II

1985

as Self

Raquel: Total beauty and fitness

1984

Of Muppets & Men

1981

as Self

Electric Blue 005

1981

as Self (archive footage)

Will the Real Mr Sellers.....?

1969

Salvador Dalí's Fantastic Dream

1966

Raquel Welch

Actor

Videos

Documentaries

Crew