Raquel Welch Bio, Spouse, Daughter, Net Worth, Kids, Age, Height and Measurements

Raquel Welch was dressed in a two-piece deerskin bikini and had only three lines of dialogue in the epic film One Million Years B.C. but her image would go down in history as a global sex symbol of her time an idea she found a little strange.

Before playing in it she was in the eyes of her audience with impressive roles in the television show Bewitched and Fantastic Voyage of the 1960s and also played in Legally Blonde (2001). Even today at the end of the 70s the actress and singer has not lost her charm and still holds many hearts spellbound every time she appears.

Read on to learn more about Raquel Welch Bio, Spouse, Daughter, Net Worth, Kids, Age, Height, and Measurements

Raquel Welch Bio, Age

Raquel Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5 1940 in Chicago Illinois USA. Her father Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo (1911-1976) was a Bolivian immigrant who worked as an aeronautical engineer while her mother Josephine Sarah Hall (1909-2000) was of English origin. She is the first of three children including her younger brother James “Jim” Stanford and her younger sister Gayle Carole.

Two years after her birth her family moved to San Diego California where she regularly attended Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church with her mother. As she grew up she was very athletic entered beauty contests and rose very high in her studies. She aspired to become a ballet dancer but gave up her dreams after 10 years of intense practice when her teacher told her she didn’t have the right figure.

At the age of 14, she won the titles of Miss Photogenic and Miss Contour as well as Miss La Jolla in high school and Miss San Diego – the most beautiful of the Fair – at the San Diego County Fair. With her impressive resume in the beauty contest arena, Raquel finally won the state title of Maid of California.

Unfortunately, her parents divorced shortly after she graduated. She graduated with honors from La Jolla High School in 1958 after which she enrolled at San Diego State College on a theatre arts scholarship to pursue a career as an actress. She then joined a local theatre where she played several roles in their productions such as the lead role in The Ramona Pageant in 1959 the same year she married James Welch.

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To advance in the show business arena, Welch has accepted a position as a weather forecaster at a local television station in San Diego KFMB. She also worked as a model in Dallas Texas for Neiman Marcus and as a cocktail waitress before moving to Los Angeles in 1963.

Acting Career

In Los Angeles, she met Patrick Curtis who became her personal and commercial director after applying for roles in film studios. Curtis had the idea of promoting her as a sexual symbol and also convinced her to use her husband’s last name to avoid typecasting in Latin. Over time she began to win roles first in A House Is Not a Home (1964) and then in an Elvis Presley film Roustabout (1964).

This is followed by small-screen roles such as Envoûtement McHale’s Navy and The Virginian as well as a presentation concert as part of the weekly variety series The Hollywood Palace. In 1965 she wrote her first feature film in the beach film A Swingin’ Summer. After playing a leading role in the science fiction film Fantastic Voyage (1966) which became a success and put it on the star map she signed a contract with 20th Century Fox and other films followed. However it is One Million B.C. (1966) where she had only one suit an oxskin bikini and only three lines that brought Curtis’ initial idea to life-changing her status to have a sex appeal.

In the years that followed she had a myriad of roles in films some outside the United States such as in Italy and Spain. Her works include The Oldest Profession (1967) Fathom (1967) Bedazzled (1967) Bandolero! (1968) where she avoided a sexy role. Although she has starred in a variety of other films starring such great names as Frank Sinatra in Lady in Cement (1968) and Burt Reynolds in The Western 100 Rifles in 1969 Raquel wanted to be taken seriously as an actress.

She took the risk in 1970 when she played a transsexual heroine in the controversial film Myra Breckinridge co-starring Mae West. Although the film was a failure Playboy nicknamed her the most desired woman of the 70s.

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From 1982 she had more small-screen roles until 1994 when she starred in the feature film Naked Gun 33. She has also appeared in other films and television works. Her recent works include How to Be a Latin Lover (2017) and Date My Dad (2017). Throughout her career of more than half a century, Raquel Welch has refused to go completely naked on screen by stating that she is merely reflecting on her education.

In 1974 she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in the 1973 film The Three Musketeers. She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994 and received the Imagen Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 for her positive promotion of Latin Americans throughout her career.

Other Ventures

In 1987 Raquel Welch launched a singing career and performed for many years in a successful musical show at a Las Vegas nightclub. She appeared on stage in 1981 where she starred in Broadway’s Woman of the Year musical (1982) and Victor/Victoria in 1997. In addition, his dance single This Girl’s Back in Town (1987) reached 29th place on Billboard’s dance club charts.

Her book and video series The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program was a resounding success in the 1980s. She is also the author of two other books The Secrets Of Timeless Appeal and Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage both released in 2010.

Speaking of the secret of perfect beauty Raquel has launched several beauty products such as jewelry and a skincare line. She also has a line of signature wigs HAIRuWEAR which has been a phenomenal success. In 2007 she became one of the new faces of MAC Cosmetics for its Beauty Icon series.

Net Worth

Raquel Welch made a name for herself and made a fortune in the industry. She has been working there for more than five decades and her collection of beauty products and other business moves have contributed to its richness. Raquel Welch’s net worth is estimated at $30 million.

Family – Spouse, Kids, Daughter

Raquel became attached to her first marriage one year after leaving high school with her lover James Welch in 1959 and they had two children together; a daughter named Tahnee and a son Damon (born in 1959) before their divorce in 1964.

Her daughter was born Latanne René Welch on December 26, 1961, and like her mother, She is a model and actress.

Three years after working with Patrick Curtis they moved from a professional to a more personal relationship exchanging vows in 1967. The marriage was also short-lived. It was another divorce for Welch five years later in 1972. She then married French and American director/journalist André Weinfeld from 1980 to 1990.

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In 1999 Raquel Welch married Richard Palmer from whom she separated in 2008 and divorced shortly thereafter. The Hollywood sex symbol really had a colorful love life. In addition to the men she married, she also dated Warren Beatty Ron Talsky Steve McQueen, and Dudley Moore. However, she expressed doubts about the possibility of going down the aisle again.

Raquel Welch Height and Measurement

Her body figure ended her dream of becoming a ballet dancer but imposed her as an icon of beauty. Her large body thanks in part to her 10 years of ballet training has also helped to transform America’s female ideal into her current state; ending Hollywood’s vigorous promotion of the blonde bomb as defined by Marilyn Monroe among others.

Timeless beauty is indeed blessed with a naturally gifted body that measures 37-24-36 inches (94-61-91 cm). She is 1.68 m (5′ 6″) tall and weighs 121 lbs (55 kg).

Quick Facts About Raquel Welch