The beautiful Raquel Welch is an iconic American actress and singer. This legendary beauty is even credited with ending Hollywood’s trend and obsession with the blonde bombshell. Welch first entered the industry back in 1956 and has been turning heads ever since. An icon of the 1960s and 1970s, Welch has topped many ‘Hottest Stars’ lists. Keep scrolling to take a look at Raquel Welch’s life through these rare vintage photos.
Jo Raquel Tejada
Born Jo Raquel Tejada, Raquel Welch was welcomed to the world on September 5th, 1940. Welch’s father was a Bolivian engineer, and her mother’s parents had English ancestry. The family moved from Illinois to San Diego when Welch was just two years old.
Interestingly enough, Welch’s cousin – Lidia Gueiler Tejada – became the first female president of Bolivia. It’s clear that talent runs in the Tejada family! Welch attended church with her mother as a child and took an interest in performing from an early age.
Miss Photogenic
Welch studied ballet for ten years until she gave it up when she turned 17. Sadly, her dance teacher told her she didn’t have the correct body shape for ballet.
Regardless, Welch was a beautiful child and had already scooped up a handful of beauty titles. When she was just 14, Welch won Miss Photogenic, and Miss Contour. While attending high school she won both Miss La Jolla and Miss San Diego. After winning multiple titles, Welch went on to become Maid of California.
Moving to San Diego
Welch went on to graduate high-school in 1958, during which time her parents separated. However, Welch went looking for an acting career and enrolled in San Diego State College to study theater arts. Just one year later, in 1959, she married her high school sweetheart, James Welch.
Welch acted in several local theater productions but eventually gave up her drama classes. She got a job as a weather forecaster on a local San Diego TV station and separated from her husband.
Waitressing in Dallas
At this point – with two children – Raquel Welch moved to Dallas, where she worked as a cocktail waitress and a model. She then picked herself up again and moved back to Los Angeles in 1963.
Welch started auditioning for film roles when she met Hollywood agent Patrick Curtis. Curtis became Welch’s manager, and the pair planned to turn her into a Hollywood symbol. They decided to keep Welch’s married name in order to avoid her getting cast solely in Latina roles.
A Swingin’ Summer
Welch started picking up work, with small roles in films including A House Is Not a Home and Roustabout, both in 1964. Welch also featured on a variety of television shows including The Virginian, Bewitched, and McHale’s Navy.
Her first featured role came around in 1965 in the beach film A Swingin’ Summer. People in Hollywood were starting to notice Welch, including the wife of a producer who recommended her to 20th Century Fox. With the help of her manager, she landed a contract.
It’s Raquel
Welch agreed to a seven-year non-exclusive contract with 20th Century Fox, including five movies over five years. Initially, the studio executives wanted to change the actress’s name, fearing audiences wouldn’t be able to pronounce Raquel..
Welch stuck to her guns, though, and refused to change her given name. Executives discussed changing her name to ‘Debbie,’ but thankfully the actress put her foot down. In 1966, Welch secured the leading role in sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage. It was a hit, and she became an instant star.
A Bombshell Is Born
The most famous image of Welch is still used to promote the Don Chaffey-directed film One Million Years B.C. Welch was loaned to Hammer Studios by Fox Studios in order to lead the film.
Famously, Welch’s only costume in the movie is a two-piece deerskin bikini, described as the “definitive look of the sixties.” Welch’s costume in this iconic image has been described as “mankind’s first bikini,” and catapulted the actress into super-stardom. The New York Times called Welch “a marvelous breathing monument to womankind.”
Hollywood Pin-Up
Raquel Welch in a deerskin bikini is a truly iconic image, but Welch only had three lines in the film itself.
Curtis and Welsh’s plan of turning the actress into an iconic symbol had really paid off. Welch was now a genuine Hollywood pin-up. In fact, she became a leading woman for the entire era. Welch’s image was turned into posters, and soon she was known all over the world. To broaden her appeal, Welch continued to star in different films…
Born to Be Photographed
Due to her stunning good looks, Raquel Welch was highly underestimated by some in Hollywood. When she starred in British spy movie Fathom in 1967, cast and crew members would often question her intelligence.
Welch herself stated that her role in Fathom was “a blown-up Barbie Doll,” as she was cast solely for her jaw-dropping beauty. Many films of the time didn’t have well-developed roles for women. A film critic writing for the Los Angeles Times commented that Welch was “born to be photographed.”
Smitten by Sinatra
Also in 1967, Welch starred alongside Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in the Stanley Donen-directed comedy Bedazzled, which saw her play and embody the deadly sin Lillian Lust. She appeared in Bandolero in 1968 and much preferred her character as it wasn’t like the stereotypical bimbo roles she had landed in the past.
Welch acted opposite some serious legends of the silver screen including James Stewart, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin. In fact, she was so smitten by Sinatra that she occasionally forgot to act!
Controversy
Welch has appeared in some movies that were controversial at the time. Her film, 100 Rifles, faced serious public attention because it showed a love scene between people of different races. Shockingly, during the late 1960s, this was still taboo in Hollywood.
Raquel Welch’s most controversial role was in the 1970 movie Myra Breckinridge. Welch hoped the role would encourage people to take her more seriously as an actress, but the film was a flop.
Most Desired Woman
Despite what some directors advised, Welch stood her ground and never fully exposed herself on camera. She was named Playboy’s “Most Desired Woman” in 1970 and even hosted the Academy Awards several times. By the early seventies, the actress had become a household name.
In 1970, the actress got an entire television special dedicated to her, entitled Raquel! The special was filmed in Acapulco, Paris, London, Mexico City, L.A and more. Raquel! was full of extravagant song and dance numbers, as well as pop-culture icons.
Women of the Year
Did you know that Raquel Welch almost played Alexis Carrington on Dynasty? The actress auditioned along with Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren for the coveted role. Of course, the role went to the inimitable Joan Collins.
However, Welch did star in Women of the Year on Broadway and was praised for her work in the title role. She acted in The Legend of Walks Far Woman in 1982, and was also due to star in an adaptation of Cannery Row the same year.
Kansas City Bomber
Welch went on to star in a host of movies throughout the 1970s. Between 1970 and 1975 she starred in The Beloved, Hannie Caulder, Kansas City Bomber, The Last of Sheila, The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, and The Wild Party.
Welch saw her life reflected in some of her movies. For example, she played a single mother roller-derby star in Kansas City Bomber. The actress remarked that the female characters in the film are controlled by unseen men, as in Hollywood.
Blacklisted
Not surprisingly, the movie industry didn’t respond well to being taken to task over their actions. The trial proved that there was a conspiracy to falsely blame Raquel Welch for the film’s delays and budgetary issues. As a result, Welch was blacklisted, and her career was instantly impacted.
Speaking about the case, Welch stated, “I just wanted to clear my reputation and get back to my work, my work in movies.” Despite her newfound reputation, Welch did star in Right to Die in 1987.
This Girl’s Back in Town
Over the next few years, Welch starred in several films and TV shows. The actress even released a single in 1987 called “This Girl’s Back in Town.” Amazingly, Welch’s single got to number 29 on Billboard’s dance club chart.
Between the late ’80s and early ’90s, Welch appeared in Scandal in a Small Town, Trouble in Paradise, Torch Song, and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. You can even spot Welch in a ’90s episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
Beauty Icon
Welch didn’t stop after her hugely successful series of fitness books and videos. The actress branched out into other areas and became a successful businesswoman. In 2007, cosmetics company MAC picked Welch to be the newest face of their Beauty Icon series.
A Bad Monster Movie
Welch was catapulted to global fame thanks to the iconic image of her in a deerskin bikini in adventure fantasy film One Million Years B.C. Welch was reluctant about being involved in the film, seeing it as “a bad monster movie.”
