Biography of Raquel WelchRaquel Welch (born September 5, 1940) is a Golden Globe-winning American actress who reached fame during the 1960s. She is regarded as one of the most indelible sex symbols in American film history.
Welch, oldest of three children, was born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Josepha Sarah (née Hall) and Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo. Her father, who immigrated from La Paz, Bolivia, was an aerospace engineer of Spanish-Castilian[citation needed] descent; her mother was an Irish-American. Welch is a relative of the only female president of Bolivia, Lydia Gueiler Tejada.
In 1942, Armando Tejada was transferred to San Diego, California. The family moved to the suburb of La Jolla, where Welch 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 attending La Jolla 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, 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 KFMB, 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, Welch 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 in the television shows Bewitched, McHale's Navy, The Hollywood Palace, and The Virginian.
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 (1966), which made her a star.
On loan out to Hammer Studios in Britain, Welch starred in the remake of One Million Years B.C.. After her appearance as Lust incarnate in the hit 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. Welch's first real starring role was in Myra Breckinridge with Mae West. She took the role as the film's transsexual heroine in an attempt to be taken seriously as an actress, but the movie turned out to be a dismal failure.
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. Ironically, despite her iconic sex symbol status, having acted in numerous films and been subject of countless magazine layouts, including Playboy, Welch has never appeared or posed nude. Welch was due to star in the 1982 adaptation of Cannery Row, but was fired by the producers only a few days into production (allegedly, she was taking too long to get ready each day). She was replaced with Debra Winger. Welch successfully sued, collecting a multi-million dollar award, but this effectively ended her film acting career until the mid-1990s. 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 Central Park West 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 performed in a nightclub act in Las Vegas, and she has starred on Broadway in Woman of the Year, receiving praise for following Lauren Bacall in the title role, and in Victor/Victoria, having less success following Julie Andrews and Liza Minnelli in the title roles. In a 1997 episode of the comedy series Seinfeld entitled "The Summer of George" Welch played a highly temperamental version of herself, assaulting series stars Kramer and Elaine, the former because he fired her from an acting job and the latter because Welch mistakenly thought that Elaine was mocking her.
On July 18, 2007 Liz Smith reported that Welch has been invited to play Eva Longoria's sexy aunt on Desperate Housewives.
"The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program" was published in 1984. The book, written by Welch herself includes a Hatha Yoga fitness program, her views on healthy living/nutrition, as well as beauty and personal style. 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.
In January 2007, she was revealed as the newest face of MAC Cosmetics Beauty Icon series. Her line features several limited edition makeup shades in glossy black and tiger print packaging.
On July 18, 2007 Liz Smith reported that Welch is proud of her Bolivian roots.
Welch has been married to James Welch (1959-1962), publicist and agent; Patrick Curtis (1967-1972), director/producer Andre Weinfeld (1980-1990); and Richard Palmer (1999). She is the mother of Damon Welch (b.November 6,1959) and actress Tahnee Welch (b.December 26,1961). Welch's daughter, Tahnee Welch followed her mother's December 1979 example and appeared on the cover of Playboy, the November 1995 issue. Welch's son, Damon Welch, married Rebecca Trueman, the daughter of cricketing legend Fred Trueman, a union of the acting and sporting worlds but the marriage was short-lived. Raquel Welch arrived at the wedding after the bride, completely upstaging her. She claimed at the time that her lateness was because she had been giving an interview and lost track of the time, but later she admitted that she had done it on purpose, knowing that the press would write about her, so she planned to give them something to write about. When the couple announced they were splitting up in Hello!, they emphatically denied that the split was anything to do with Welch.
Welch is a fan of Chelsea FC, or was "in the '70s".
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