Raquel Welch, the actress known for a long movie career starting with films such as Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C., has died at her home in Los Angeles after a brief illness. She was 82 years old.
Jo Raquel Tejada was born in Chicago, Illinois to aeronautical engineer Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo, originally from La Paz, Bolivia, and Josephine Sara Hall, the daughter of architect Emery Stanford Hall. She had a younger brother named James and a younger sister named Gayle. When Raquel was two years old, the family moved to San Diego California. She studied ballet from ages 7 to 17 and won several beauty titles during her teenage years. After graduated high school with honors in 1958, she attended San Diego State College on a theater arts scholarship, and married James Welch, her high school sweetheart. She won several parts in local theater productions, and worked as a weather presenter for San Diego TV station KMFB. The Welches separated, after which she moved with their two children to Dallas, where she worked as a cocktail waitress and as a model for Neiman Marcus.
In 1963, Welch moved to Los Angeles, where she met agent and former child actor Patrick Curtis, who became her manager. He convinced her to use her husband's last name to avoid being typecast as a Latina. She was cast in small roles in movies and on TV, but landed leading roles in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C., both in 1966. She eventually starred in movies such as Fathom, Hannie Caulder, Myra Breckenridge, Mother, Jugs & Speed, and The Three Musketeers, to name just a few.
Welch made many appearances as a guest star on TV shows, hosted TV specials such as Raquel! and From Raquel With Love, and hosted her own variety show Really, Raquel. Besides her acting career, she also performed in her own one-woman nightclub musical act in Las Vegas, wrote two books about beauty and fitness, and released a series of fitness and yoga videos.
After divorcing James Welch, Raquel Welch married and divorced the aforementioned Patrick Curtis, producer/director/photographer André Weinfeld (who was involved in her fitness books and videos), and businessman Richard Palmer. She is survived by her children Damon Welch and model/actress Latanne "Tahnee" Welch.
Read more at Variety, TMZ, the Los Angeles Times, TV Line and Deadline.
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