Raquel Welch obit

Raquel Welch, 'One Million Years B.C.' Actress and Hollywood Sex Symbol, Dead at 82

The Golden Globe winner died Wednesday morning following a short illness

 

She was not on the list.

Raquel Welch, a longtime actress, international sex symbol and Golden Globe winner, has died, PEOPLE confirms. She was 82.

Welch "passed away peacefully early this morning after a brief illness," her manager Steve Sauer confirmed to PEOPLE on Wednesday.

Sauer added, "Her career spanned over 50 years starring in over 30 films and 50 television series and appearances. The Golden Globe winner, in more recent years, was involved in a very successful line of wigs. Raquel leaves behind her two children, son Damon Welch and her daughter Tahnee Welch.

TMZ was first to report the news.

Welch made her film debut in the mid 1960s, with breakout roles in 1966's Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C. that same year.

She would go on to star in dozens of films, including 1973's The Three Musketeers, which earned her a Golden Globe for best actress in a motion picture comedy or musical.

Other titles under her belt include 100 Rifles, The Prince and the Pauper, Chairman of the Board, Legally Blonde and more. Her final film role was in 2017's How to Be a Latin Lover. She also memorably performed "I'm a Woman" with Cher back in 1975 on The Cher Show.

Welch became a pin-up after flaunting her curves in 1966's camp classic One Million Years B.C. But behind the glamour, the star (born Jo Raquel Tejada) was a hardworking single mom whose career as a sex bomb helped her raise two kids after splitting from her first husband in 1964.

The actress, whose book Beyond the Cleavage became a bestseller, previously told PEOPLE as she celebrated her 70th birthday in 2010, "I never thought life was going to give me something for nothing." 

Born in Chicago to a Bolivian-born engineer and his American wife, "By age 7 I knew I wanted to be an actress," Welch said at the time.

She continued, "My parents enrolled me in a theater program. You could get away from some of the painfulness of real life. I always had flights of fancy."

Crediting her resilience to her mom, Josephine, she added at the time, "I've had a great life — and it's not over yet!"

Her father, Armando Tejada, was an aeronautical engineer from La Paz, Bolivia, son of Agustin Tejada and Raquel Urquizo. In 2010 while being interviewed on the talk show Tavis Smiley, Welch stated, "My father came from a country called Bolivia. He was of Spanish descent.

The family moved from Illinois to San Diego, California, when Welch was two years old. Welch attended the Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church every Sunday with her mother. As a young girl, Welch had the desire to be a performer and entertainer. She began studying ballet at age seven, but after ten years of study, she left the art at seventeen when her instructor told her she did not have the right body type for professional ballet companies. At age 14, she won beauty titles as Miss Photogenic and Miss Contour. While attending La Jolla High School she won the title of Miss La Jolla and the title of Miss San Diego – the Fairest of the Fair – at the San Diego County Fair. This long line of beauty contests eventually led to the state title of Maid of California. Her parents divorced when she finished her school years.

She was one of many actresses who auditioned for the role of Mary Ann Summers on the television series Gilligan's Island.

Welch helped transform America's feminine ideal into its current state. Her beautiful looks and eroticism made her the definitive 1960s and 1970s sex icon, rather than the blonde bombshell of the late 1950s as typified by Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and others. Welch became a star in the mid-1960s and was exotic, brunette, and smolderingly sexual. Her countless publicity photos helped to popularize her image, dress style, and 1960s and 1970s fashion trends. Welch and other actresses also made big hair popular.

Welch is mentioned in the 1971 song, "One's on the Way" by country music legend Loretta Lynn. Welch is also mentioned in The Unknown Stuntman, the theme song to The Fall Guy, starring Lee Majors, who also recorded the song. She is also mentioned in the Al Jarreau song "Love Is Real" from the Grammy-winning 1980 "This Time" album, where Jarreau sings "Raquel and Redford are the tops".

Welch is one of the few actresses, and one of the earliest, who had a lead role in a Western movie. Hannie Caulder (1971) was a clear influence on later revenge films. Quentin Tarantino said the film was one of his inspirations for Kill Bill (2003).

In the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption, the poster that Andy Dufresne had on his prison cell wall at the time of his escape was the famous pinup image of Welch in One Million Years B.C. Prior to Dufresne's escape being realized, the warden refers to Welch as "Miss Fuzzy Britches"

Welch married her high school sweetheart, James Welch, on May 8, 1959, with whom she had two children.

She married producer Patrick Curtis in 1967 and divorced him in 1972. In 1980, she married producer André Weinfeld, divorcing him in 1990. Welch wed Richard Palmer, owner of Mulberry Street Pizzeria, in 1999 but then separated from him in 2003 and later divorced. Welch says she will not remarry.

Welch posed for Playboy in 1979, but she never did a fully nude shoot. Hugh Hefner later wrote, "Raquel Welch, one of the last of the classic sex symbols, came from the era when you could be considered the sexiest woman in the world without taking your clothes off. She declined to do complete nudity, and I yielded gracefully. 

Filmography

 

Film

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1964    A House Is Not a Home   Call Girl      

1964            Roustabout     College Girl            Uncredited

1965    A Swingin' Summer            Jeri      

1965    Do Not Disturb Woman in Lobby            Uncredited

1966            Fantastic Voyage            Cora Peterson            First film under contract to 20th Century Fox

1966    Shoot Loud, Louder... I Don't Understand            Tania Montini Made in Italy for Joseph E. Levine

1966    Sex Quartet Elena            Segment: "Fata Elena"

Also known as The Queens

1966    One Million Years B.C.     Loana  

1967    The Oldest Profession            Nini            Segment: "The Gay Nineties"

1967    Fathom            Fathom Harvill 

1967            Bedazzled        Lust / Lilian Lust        

1968    The Biggest Bundle of Them All            Juliana 

1968            Bandolero!      Maria Stoner 

1968    Lady in Cement            Kit Forrester         

1969    100 Rifles    Sarita  

1969    Flareup            Michele           

1969    The Magic Christian            Priestess of the Whip   

1970    Myra Breckinridge            Myra Breckinridge    

1970    The Beloved            Elena            Also known as Sin

1971    Hannie Caulder            Hannie Caulder           

1972    Fuzz            Det. Eileen McHenry         

1972    Kansas City Bomber            K.C. Carr    

1972            Bluebeard            Magdalena      

1973    The Last of Sheila            Alice Wood 

1973    The Three Musketeers            Constance Bonacieux            Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical

1974    The Four Musketeers            Constance Bonacieux 

1975    The Wild Party            Queenie         

1976            Mother, Jugs & Speed            Jennifer a.k.a. "Jugs"     

1977    The Prince and the Pauper Lady Edith    Also known as Crossed Swords

1977    Animal            Jane Gardner            Also known as Stuntwoman

1994    Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult            Herself            Uncredited

1998            Chairman of the Board            Grace Kosik            Nominated: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress

1998    What I Did for Love            Jacqueline        

1999    Get Bruce   Herself            Documentary

2001    Legally Blonde Mrs. Windham-Vandermark    

2001    Tortilla Soup            Hortensia         

2006    Forget About It            Christine DeLee          

2017    How to Be a Latin Lover   Celeste Birch   

 

Television

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1964–1965            The Hollywood Palace            Billboard Girl    Season 1 Regular

1964    The Virginian            Saloon Girl            Episode: "Ryker"

1964            McHale's Navy            Lt. Wilson            Episode: "McHale, the Desk Commando"

1964            Bewitched            Stewardess            Episode: "Witch or Wife" (S01EP09)

1964    The Rogues Miss France            Episode: "Hugger-Mugger, by the Sea"

1965    Wendy and Me            Lila Harrison            Episode: "Wendy Sails in the Sunset"

1965    The Baileys of Balboa Beverly            Episode: "Sam's Nephew"

1970    Raquel!            Herself            Television Special

1971    Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In            Guest Performer            Episode: "#5.1"

1974    Really, Raquel  Herself            Television Special

1976            Saturday Night Live            Host            Episode: "Raquel Welch/Phoebe Snow/John Sebastian"

Also known as NBC's Saturday Night

1978    The Muppet Show            Herself            Episode: "Raquel Welch"

1979    Mork & Mindy            Captain Nirvana            Episode: "Mork vs. the Necrotons"

1980    From Raquel with Love    Herself   Television Special

1982    The Legend of Walks Far Woman            Walks Far Woman            TV Movie

Bronze Wrangler for Fictional Television Drama

1987    Right to Die       Emily Bauer   TV Movie

Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film

1988    Scandal in a Small Town   Leda Beth Vincent            TV Movie

1989    Trouble in Paradise            Rachel            TV Movie

1993    Tainted Blood            Elizabeth Hayes            TV Movie

1993    Torch Song    Paula Eastman            TV Movie

1993    Evening Shade   Cynthia Gibson            Episode: "Small Town Girl"

1993            Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby            Shelly Millstone (voice)            Animated TV Special

1995    Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman            Diana Stride            Episode: "Top Copy"

1995    Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child            La Madrasta (voice)            Episode: "Cinderella"

1996    Central Park West            Dianna Brock   Season 2 Regular

Also known as CPW

1996    Sabrina the Teenage Witch   Aunt Vesta            Episode: "Third Aunt from the Sun"

1997    Seinfeld            Herself            Episode: "The Summer of George"

1997–2000            Spin City      Abby Lassiter            Episodes: "Porn in the U.S.A.", "A River Runs Through Me", "Balloons over Broadway"

2002            American Family            Aunt Dora    Season 1 Semi-Regular

2002    Jim Brown: All-American            Herself            Documentary

2004    8 Simple Rules            Jackie            Episode: "Vanity Unfair"

2008            Welcome to The Captain            Charlene Van Ark            Series Regular

2012    CSI: Miami   Vina Navarro            Episode: "Rest in Pieces"

2013    House of Versace            Aunt Lucia    TV Movie

2015    The Ultimate Legacy Miss Sally May Anderson            TV Movie

2017    Date My Dad            Rosa            TV series

 

Stage

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1973–1974            Raquel and the World of Sid and Marty Krofft            Herself              Las Vegas Hilton

Adapted into the television special Really Raquel

1981–1983            Woman of the Year            Tess Harding            Palace Theatre

1995    The Millionairess            Epifania Ognisanti di Parerga            Alexandra Theatre

1997            Victor/Victoria            Victoria Grant/Victor Grazinski            Marquis Theatre

Discography

Album appearances

Year     Title            Album

1965    "I'm Ready to Groove"            A Swingin' Summer: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack