Raquel (Raquel) Welch is still called the sex symbol of all times and peoples. Appearing on movie screens in 1964, she drove millions of men around the world crazy. This year, the actress will turn 77 years old, but she still looks amazing, admires her cheerfulness, charming smile and excellent physical shape.
Childhood and youth
Raquel Welch was born on September 5, 1940 in Chicago (USA, Illinois), having received the name Jo Raquel Tejada at birth. Her father, a Bolivian by origin, worked as an aeronautical engineer, and her mother had Irish roots. At the end of the forties, the family moved to California, where Raquel entered a comprehensive school in the city of San Diego (La Jolla area).
In her youth, Raquel was fond of dancing, she dreamed of becoming a ballerina. Therefore, she took private lessons and even entered a choreographic college. But the teachers considered her unpromising, since the girl’s physical data did not correspond to the ideal forms that dancers should have.
Indeed, from a small fragile girl in adolescence, she turned into a tall athletic teenager. However, this did not prevent Raquel from participating in various beauty contests, where she often won prizes. Among her first titles won are Miss San Diego and Miss La Jolla. After graduating from high school and failing in the ballet field, the girl enters the School of Dramatic Art, begins to play in amateur performances.
The beginning of a film career
The winner of beauty contests could not fail to notice television producers. Raquel began to be invited to shoot commercials, she acted as a host of weather forecasts, and in her free time worked as a waitress. The film debut took place quite late. Twenty-four-year-old Raquel Welch was invited to star in the low-budget television film The Wrong House, where she played a call girl. At the same time, she manages to get a modest supporting role in the musical, where the idol of the public of those years, the legendary Elvis Presley, shone.
First significant movie successes
The next morning after the premiere of the film "One Million Years BC" Welch Raquel, as they say, woke up famous. In the film, directed by Don Chaffee in 1966, the long-legged beauty starred half-naked, playing Loana, the girlfriend of the protagonist. In the same year, the audience saw Raquel Welch in another film - "Fantastic Journey".
In two years, the actressinvited to a role in the film "Barbarella", but Raquel refuses. It seems to her that the producers are not interested in her acting talent, but want to get a girl with a beautiful appearance as the main character.
Thanks to Welch Raquel's portrayal in the historical comedy, where she was dressed in a kind of buckskin bikini, she is given the unspoken title of sex symbol of the year. In the 1970s, Playboy magazine named her the "Most Desirable Woman" of the decade.
Filmography, awards, scandals
After the resounding success in the film "One Million BC", Raquel Welch, despite the signed contract with the studio "Twentieth Century Fox", rarely receives invitations to the main roles. Nevertheless, she manages to appear in several dozen films in the form of supporting characters. In 1970, she agrees to participate in the filming of the film, where she was to play the role of a transsexual. The tape was coldly received by the public and critics, and Raquel decides to leave the cinema for a while. At this time, she starred in television series, participates in fashion shows. In 1974, Raquel Welch won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in The Three Musketeers.
Deciding to return to big cinema, Raquel starts shooting in the film "Cannery Row", released in 1982. But after the first days of filming, the MGM studio terminated the contract with the actress, accusing her of slowness and lack of punctuality. Through the court, Raquel is seeking compensation of $ 14 million. This scandal puts an end to her further cinematic career, and shebegins performing on stage at Broadway music halls.
In 2001, Robert Luketic's comedy Legally Blonde was released. Raquel Welch is invited to play the aging lady Mrs. Wyndham Vandermark. In 2006, viewers could see the unfading beauty in the film Forget It, she also appeared in one of the episodic roles of the CBS short series Welcome to the Captain in 2008. Actress Raquel Welch has her own star on the Hollywood Alla of Fame.
Life behind the scenes
Outside the world of cinema, Raquel is actively trying his hand at the literary field. In the mid-80s, her autobiographical book “On the other side of the neckline” was published, which aroused interest among the readership. The physically fit actress has created an original fitness program and released a series of CDs and VHS recordings of her own exercise routines.
Commercial success brought the launch of a line of cosmetics, wigs, leather and jewelry under the Raquel Welch brand. In 2007, MAC Cosmetics invited Raquel to advertise the new Beauty Icon series. And a little later, she becomes the face of Foster Grant, which produces reading glasses.
Family and children
Raquel Welch, whose personal life was not entirely successful, was married four times. Her first chosen one was a school friend James Welch - she retained his last name in subsequent marriages. Marryclassmate, she left in 1959, and in 1964 they parted ways. By this time, the couple had two children. In 1967, Raquel connects her fate with Patrick Curtis, who contributed to the advancement of the actress in the cinema. But this marriage also cracked after 5 years. From 1980 to 1990, the beauty's husband was journalist Andre Weinfeld. In 1999, Raquel marries businessman Richard Palmer, who was 15 years younger than her. Today, the actress is alone again. The marriage to Palmer ended in 2011.
