Raquel
Welch (born September 5, 1940) is an American actress.
Raquel Welch is one of the most famous sex symbols of
all time, and she is still considered one of the most
beautiful women in the world.
Early Life
She 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 an immigrant from Bolivia of Castilian Spanish
extraction who was an aerospace engineer, and her
mother an United States native of Irish descent.
In 1942, Armand 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.
Career
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.
Welch 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 a few films, including Roustabout starring
Elvis Presley. Welch's first starring 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Personal life
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.
Achievements and awards
In 1975, 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 (1988).
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.
Filmography
Roustabout (1964) (Paramount Pictures) ... College
girl with blue bow (uncredited)
A House Is Not A Home (1964) (Embassy Pictures) ...
Call girl (uncredited)
Do Not Disturb (1965) (20th Century Fox) (uncredited)
A Swingin' Summer (1965) (United Screen Arts) ...
Jeri
Fantastic Voyage (1966) (20th Century Fox) ... Cora
Peterson
One Million Years B.C. (1966) (20th Century Fox) ...
Loana
Spara forte, piu forte, non capisco (1966) (Embassy
Pictures) ... Tania Montini ... aka Shoot Loud, Louder
Le Fate (1966) (Royal Films International) ... Elena
Le Plus vieux metier du monde (1967) (Goldstone Film
Enterprises) ... Nini
Fathom (1967) (20th Century Fox) ... Fathom Harvill
Bedazzled (1967) (20th Century Fox) ... Lillian Lust
The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1967) (MGM) ... Juliana
Bandolero! (1968) (20th Century Fox) ... Maria Stoner
Lady in Cement (1968) (20th Century Fox) ... Kit Forrest
100 Rifles (1969) (20th Century Fox) ... Sarita
Flareup (1969) (MGM) ... Michele
The Magic Christian (1969) (Commonwealth United Entertainment)
... Priestess of the Whip
Myra Breckinridge (1970) (20th Century Fox) ... Myra
Breckinridge
The Beloved (1970) (Joseph Brenner Assciates) ...
Elena
Hannie Caulder (1971) (Paramount Pictures) ... Hannie
Caulder
Fuzz (1972) (United Artists) ... Eileen McHenry
Kansas City Bomber (1973) (MGM) ... K.C. Carr
Bluebeard (1973) (Cinerama Releasing Corp.) ... Magdalena
The Last of Sheila (1973) (Warner Bros.) ... Alice
The Three Musketeers (1973) (20th Century Fox) ...
Constance de Bonancieux
The Four Musketeers (1975) (20th Century Fox) ...
Constance de Bonancieux
The Wild Party (1975) (American International Pictures)
... Queenie
Mother, Jugs and Speed (1976) (20th Century Fox) ...
Jennifer "Jugs"
L'Animal (1977) (Analysis Film Releasing Corp.) ...
Jane Gardner ... aka Stunt Woman
Crossed Swords (1977) (Warner Bros.) ... Edith ...
aka The Prince and the Pauper
The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) (Paramount)
... Herself (uncredited)
Chairman of the Board (1998) (Trimark Pictures) ...
Grace Kosik
Folle d'elle (1998) (UGC-Fox Distribution) ... Jacqueline
Tortilla Soup (2001) (Samuel Goldwyn Company) ...
Hortensia
Legally Blonde (2001) (MGM) ... Mrs. Windham Vandermark
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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