Raquel Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago on September 5 1940. Her father came from Bolivia. She was only two years old when her family moved to San Diego, California. Miss Welch had wanted to be a performer since she was very young. She began studying ballet when she was seven, but stopped when she was ten years old. As a teenager she was winning beauty contests. At 14 she was named "Miss Photogenic." She was later named Miss La Jolla, Miss San Diego, and Maid of California.
She won a scholarship at San Diego College, where she studied drama, but eventually dropped out. She married her high school sweetheart, James Welch. The marriage only lasted a few years. In 1960 Raquel Welch got a job as a weather girl at KFMB in San Diego. It was in 1963 that she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. It was not long before she was landing parts. She made her film debut in A House is Not a Home in 1964. She made her television debut as a Billboard Girl on the variety show Hollywood Palace that same year. She guest starred on the shows The Virginian, McHale's Navy, Bewitched, The Rogues, Wendy and Me, and The Bailey's of Balboa. She auditioned for the role of Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. She also appeared in the movies Roustabout (1964), A Swingin' Summer (1965), and Do Not Disturb (1965).
It was producer Saul David's wife who took notice of her and suggested that 20th Century Fox sign her. Miss Welch was signed to a seven year, non-exclusive contract to the studio. Amazingly enough, the studio suggested she use "Debbie" as her first name, something that Raquel Welch refused to do. She was cast in the science fiction movie Fantastic Voyage (1966). She was then loaned to Hammer Films where she made One Million Years B.C. (1966). The poster for the movie, featuring her in a fur bikini, caused a sensation. Between Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C., Raquel Welch became a sex symbol almost immediately.
In the late Sixties Raquel Welch appeared in the movies Shoot Louder...I Don't Understand (1966), Sex Quartet (1966), The Oldest Profession (1967), Fathom (1967), Bedazzled (1967), The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968), Bandolero! (1968), Lady in Cement (1968), 100 Rifles (1969), Flareup (1969), The Magic Christian (1969), and Myra Breckinridge (1970). She guest starred as herself in an episode of Bracken's World. In 1970 her television special Raquel! aired on CBS.
In the Seventies Miss Welch appeared in the movies Hannie Caulder (1971), The Beloved (1971), Fuzz (1972), Kansas City Bomber (1972), Bluebeard (1972), The Last of Sheila (1973), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), The Wild Party (1975), Mother, Juggs & Speed (1976), and Animal (1977). She guest starred on the TV shows Laugh-In, Cher, Saturday Night Live, The Muppet Show, and Mork & Mindy. Miss Welch appeared in the TV specials Really, Raquel and From Raquel with Love. She appeared in the TV movie The Legend of Walks Far Woman.
In the Eighties Raquel Welch appeared on Broadway in Woman of the Year. She appeared in the TV movies Right to Die, Scandal in a Small Town, and Trouble in Paradise. In the Nineties Raquel Welch was a regular on the short-lived series Central Park West. She guest starred on the shows Evening Shade, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Seinfeld, and Spin City. She appeared in the TV movies Tainted Blood and Torch Song. She appeared in the movies Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), Chairman of the Board (1998), and What I Did for Love (1998). She appeared on Broadway in Victor/Victoria.
In the Naughts Miss Welch had a recurring role on the TV series American Family and a regular role on Welcome to the Captain. She guest starred on 8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter. She appeared in the movies Tortilla Soup (2001), Legally Blonde (2001), and Forget About It (2006). In the Teens she had a regular role on the TV series Date My Dad. She guest starred on the show CSI: Miami. She appeared in the TV movies House of Versace and The Ultimate Legacy. She appeared in the movie How to Be a Latin Lover (2007).
I always thought, perhaps because of her status as a sex symbol, Raquel Welch was underrated as an actress. Indeed, she had a particular gift for comedy. Her comic talent was on display as the title character in the spy comedy Fathom. And she proved to have a gift for slapstick in both The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, playing the beautiful but clumsy Constance de Bonacieux. On the family drama American Family she provided much of the show's humour as Aunt Dora, the family's drama queen who had almost become a star. When it came to comedy Raquel Welch had both a gift for delivering lines and a knack for slapstick. She really was underutilized when it came to comedies.
Of course, Miss Welch was nothing if not versatile, and she may well have been the first major sex symbol who was also an action star. In 100 Rifles she played Native American revolutionary Sarita. In Bandolero! she played the widow of a man who was killed by outlaws, who also happens to be very good with a gun. In Hannie Caulder she played the title character, whose husband is murdered by a gang. She hires a bounty hunter to train her to use a gun in order to avenge her husband and herself.
As good as Miss Welch was as a comic actress and action star, she was also good at drama. In Kansas City Bomber, she played K.C. Carr, a singer mother who makes her living in the world of roller derby. In the TV movie Right to Die she played a woman suffering from Lou Gehrig's Disease. In Scandal in a Small Town she played a mother who fights anti-Semitism in a small town. Raquel Welch was extremely versatile, being able to play everything from a scientist in Fantastic Voyage to a cavewoman in One Million Years B.C. to an alcoholic actress in the TV adaptation of Torch Song, She may have been incredibly sexy, but Raquel Welch was much more than a sex symbol.
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