American actress, model and sex symbol, an exotic brunette with a gorgeous body, 37-22-36, she graced the cover of 92 European and 16 American magazines in 1966 alone. She was first onscreen from 1964, appearing in such films as Fantastic Voyage (1965), One Million Years B.C. (1966) and Myra Breckenridge (1970). Welch won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy in 1974 for her performance in The Three Musketeers. In 1978, she did a highly polished nightclub act in Las Vegas.
Through her portrayal of strong female characters, which helped in her breaking the mold of the traditional sex symbol, Welch developed a unique film persona that made her an icon of the 1960s and 1970s. Her rise to stardom in the mid-1960s was partly credited with ending Hollywood’s vigorous promotion of the blonde bombshell.
Jo Raquel Tejada’s father was an aeronautical engineer from La Paz, Bolivia. Her cousin, Bolivian politician Lidia Gueiler Tejada, became the first female president of Bolivia and the second female non-royal head of state in the Americas.
On 8 May 1959 Jo Raquel Tejada married her high school sweetheart, James Welch. The couple had two kids together, Damon and Tahnee, but separated in four years. She was next married to her business manager, Patrick Curtis, from 1967-1971. Her third marriage was to Andre Weinfeld, a French director; however, they were quietly divorced in September 1990 after more than a year’s separation. Welch gave marriage a go for the fourth time on 17 July 1999 when she married pizza chain owner Richie Palmer at her Hollywood mansion. He already had a nine-year-old son from a previous marriage. They separated after four years of marriage, with the announcement being made on 5 August 2003.
Raquel Welch died on 15 February 2023 at age 82 at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness.
Link to Wikipedia biography