Raquel Welch

Two-time nominee, one-time Golden Globe winner Raquel Welch was born in Chicago on September 5, 1940, to a Bolivian father (her original last name was Tejada). Welch’s beauty made her very quickly a sexy icon from her first breakout role in Fantastic Voyage by Richard Fleischer (1966) to her international success, also in 1966, with One Million Years B.C. by Don Chaffey.

She went on to bigger roles which led to her Golden Globe victory as Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy in 1975 for her performance in The Three Musketeers.

In the following years, the actress acted in The Wild Party by James Ivory (1975), Crossed Swords (original title: The Prince and the Pauper) by Richard Fleischer (1977) and Animal by Claude Zidi (1977) opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo. In 1987, she received her second Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress – Limited Series, Anthology Series in Right to Die.

The actress’ filmography covered different cinematographic genres: the comedies Shoot Loud, Louder… I Don’t Understand by Eduardo de Filippo (1966), The Queens by Mauro Bolognini (1966) and The Biggest Bundle of Them All by Ken Annakin (1968); thrillers like Lady in Cement by Gordon Douglas (1968) and westerns, including Bandolero! by Andrew V. McLaglen (1968) with Dean Martin and James Stewart.

Welch’s controversial film was Myra Breckenridge by Michael Sarne (1970), with Mae West, John Huston and Farrah Fawcett. In 1972, she acted in Fuzz by Richard A. Colla, with Burt Reynolds, and Bluebeard by Edward Dmytryk, with Richard Burton and Virna Lisi.

In 2001, she appeared in Legally Blonde and Tortilla Soup. Her last role on the screen was in How to Be a Latin Lover by Ken Marino, in which she acted opposite Eugenio Derbez and Salma Hayek in 2017. On TV, her last series was Date My Dad which debuted in 2017.

Welch died at age 82 on February 15, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.