Raquel welch biography

Jo Raquel Tejada (September 5, &#; February 15, ), usually called Raquel Welch, was an American actress and model. She became famous during the s as one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. She won the Golden Globe Award in

On February 15, , Welch died from cardiac arrest at her home in Los Angeles, California at the age of She also suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

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American actress and model (–)

Jo Raquel Welch (née&#;Tejada; September 5, – February 15, ) was an American actress. Welch first gained attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (), after which she signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer Film Productions, for whom she made One Million Years B.C. (). Although Welch had only three lines of dialogue in the film, images of her in the doe-skin bikini became bestselling posters that turned her into an international sex symbol. She later starred in Bedazzled (), Bandolero! (), Rifles (), Myra Breckinridge (), Hannie Caulder (), Kansas City Bomber (), The Last of Sheila (), The Three Musketeers (), The Wild Party (), and Mother, Jugs & Speed (). She made several television variety specials.

Through her portrayal of strong female characters, helping her break the mold of the traditional sex symbol, Welch developed a unique film persona that made her an icon of the s and s. Her rise to stardom in the mids was partly credited with ending Hollywood's vigorous promotion of the blonde bombshell. Her love scene with Jim Brown in Rifles also made cinematic history with their portrayal of interracial intimacy. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy in for her

Good morning, it's Friday, Feb. 17, , the day of the week when I reprise a quotation meant to be uplifting or educational. I have several such lines in mind today, all from the incandescent Raquel Welch, who died Wednesday, still "a bombshell" (as the New York Times assured its readers) at age

Southern Methodist University journalism professor Rhonda Garelick, who pens a regular Times column, suggested that the movie star's passing invites us to contemplate "what happens to our sex symbols as they age."

Except that Raquel Welch didn't seem to age. Or maybe a better way of saying it is that she didn't age out of her role as an international sex symbol. "What is, after all, the cultural longevity of the bombshell, the femme fatale?" Garelick wrote. "We tend to assume that they relinquish this status. Ms. Welch did not. She maintained it, along with her dignity."

n the trailer to "One Million Years B.C.," a British remake of a United Artists picture, the man doing the voiceover intones, "Introducing the fabulous Raquel Welch, the sensational star discovery of this -- or any other -- year …"

The promo is a subtle sleight-of-hand. "One Million Years B.C." wasn't really the movie that "introduced" Welch to the movie-going public. In and , she'd had cameos in a few movies and television shows, including an Elvis Presley beach movie. And as far as appearing in a starring role, that distinction belongs to "Fantastic Voyage," a Cold War sci-fi thriller released earlier in by 20 Century Fox.

"Fantastic Voyage," I'll say by way of digression, was pretty weak science fiction. Welch and assorted other characters -- and their U.S. Navy submarine -- are shrunk to the "size of a microbe" and inserted into the bloodstream of an imperiled CIA agent. Enough said.

"One Million Years B.C." holds up even less well. For starters, the special effects wouldn't fool a 6-year-old in this millennium. As for the story line, it