Raquel Welch Profile

Raquel Welch

	(Raquel Tejada)
5 September 40	is born in Chicago, Illinois, the first of three children of Armand and Josephine Tejada. Her father’s Bolivian; her mother’s American.
42	moves with her family to San Diego, California
	her parents divorce
?	attends high school in La Jolla, California
?	is a cheerleader
?	is “Miss Photogenic” at 14
c. 55	falls for classmate James “Jimmy” Wesley Welch
?	attends San Diego State College and wins a scholarship in drama. Welch ships out on a tuna-fishing fleet.
summer 58	is crowned “Miss Fairest of the Fair”
?	is crowned “Miss Contour”
c. February 59	Welch returns; she becomes pregnant
8 May 59	marries Welch in Las Vegas. He’s 18; she’s 17.
6 November 59	her son, Damon J., is born in San Diego, California
26 December 61	her daughter, Latanne “Tahnee” Rene, is born in San Diego, California. She will become an actress.
?	her marriage deteriorates
?	moves to Dallas
c. 63	works as a cocktail waitress and models at Neiman Marcus in Dallas to support her offspring
?	returns to San Diego, picks up her children and goes to Hollywood
?	receives the annual Golden Calf Award
July 64	is a billboard girl for ABC’s “Hollywood Palace”
?	meets press-agent and one-time child actor Patrick Curtis. He takes her to a plastic surgeon and has her “high-ridged Latin nose” altered into one smaller and more classic.
21 November 64	is among the ten contestants for “Hollywood Star of Tomorrow," introduced over the weekend at the 12th annual Deb Star Ball at the Hollywood Palladium. The others are Wendy Washburn, Barbara Parking, Beverly Stuart, Mary Ann Mobley, Laurie Sibbald, Margaret Mason, Donna Loren, Tracy McHale, and Janet Landgard.
?	after winning the Deb Star contest of 1965, she’s noticed by the wife of producer Saul David, who recommends her at 20th Century-Fox
?	tests for Our Man Flint
?	producer Cubby Broccoli sends her to London to test for Thunderball
?	20th Century-Fox signs her to a seven-year nonexclusive contract, 5 pictures over the next five years and two floaters
February 65	columnist Dorothy Kilgallen informs that “the executives at 20th Century-Fox, feeling she’s a real discovery, have not only locked her to a multiple picture-contract but have assigned her to the female lead in their $5-million film, The Fantastic Voyage. They will fly her to New York for the all-out treatment.”
	from New York columnist Earl Wilson writes: “Handsome movie star Stephen Boyd, in town from Hollywood, forgot his wallet when he took beautiful star Raquel Welch from the hotel St. Regis to see the comedy Luv and Miss Welch starring with him in Fantastic Voyage had no money either, not even enough to take care of the 75 cent fare but Negro cabbie Bruce Mullins cashed Miss Welch’s $10 check – during the theater rush hour yet…”
May 65	columnist Harrison Carroll reports: “Nancy Czar’s newest escort is Texas tycoon Emmett Anderson. Two years ago he helped Raquel Welch, new 20th Century-Fox discovery get going on her Hollywood career…”
	finds she’s allergic to rubber during the filming of Fantastic Voyage
	is among the first nine “Miss USA” beauty contestants posing for the press in New York before leaving for Miami. The others are Laura Starr, Indiana; Leslie Bruchner, Oregon; Catherine McPherson, Colorado; Constance Kellogg, Nebraska; Pat Bradford, Montana; Betty Matusko, Connecticut; Andrea Kenyon, Vermont; Bunny Baxter, Nevada; and Carla Sullivan, Alaska.”
	is quoted by columnist Vernon Scott: “I’ve been in Hollywood a year and a half and I gave myself three years to make a breakthrough. If I hadn’t made it in that time I would have turned to something else.”
June 65	is quoted by columnist Dorothy Kilgallen: “I am just a normal American girl who happens to go out with married men.”
	does an advertisement for Wate-On
July 65	is off to Salt Lake City to promote her upcoming A Swingin’ Summer
September 65	credits her personal and business manager Pat Curtis for her successful climb “so far”
	columnist Stan Delapiono writes: “Raquel Welch, 20th Century-Fox’s new sex bomb, is registered at the Dorchester in London as Mrs. Patrick Curtis. Patrick Curtis is the name of her manager, but in the upcoming Esquire she insists she is not married. Raquel is a beauty, but not yet famous enough to require an alias."
November 65	columnist Hedda Hopper reports that Raquel is sent by 20th Century-Fox to London for the filming of One Million Years B.C. “She was transformed from a brunette to a tawny blonde, given a town house, a silver Rolls, a chauffeur, and permission to sing and dance on British TV.”
December 65	columnist Earl Wilson reports that she is “likely to replace Ursula Andress as the World Sex Missile”
	is off to the Canary Islands for location filming of One Million Years B.C.
	columnist Mike Connolly dashes off: “Raquel Welch, the Deb Star beauty, writes that she’ll be winging back to Hollywood from her long-time location stint in Spain on the 1,000,000 B.C. remake: ‘The picture has taken so long,’ says she, ‘because I don’t think they knew how in 1,000,000 B.C.’”
	columnist Hedda Hopper notes: “Raquel Welch’s manager, Patrick Curtis, gifted her with a Rolls for Christmas. I hear he’d like to add a wedding ring, but she’s so busy with movie offers since becoming a blonde. She’s got so much magazine coverage in Europe she was named ‘Germany’s favorite actress’ before they’d would have seen her in a film."
April 66	is introduced to the British Royal Family at the Command Performance of Born Free in London. Others are Rex Harrison, Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Ursula Andress. The press tells: “To attend the Royal Film Performance was costly for example. She estimates that everything – a new gown, fixing her hair, make-up, hiring a car – cost her $1000 for that night. It was however worth it.”
	the press states that she “has rented a home in London because it seems obvious to her that her future is brighter in Europe than in Hollywood”
November 66	columnist Earl Wilson reveals: “The great Italian screen lover Marcello Mastroianni lounged back on the divan in the living room of his villa on the Via Antica and said that the shapely new beauty Raquel Welch from San Diego and Chicago is ‘molto sympatico’”
67	divorces Welch
	films Fathom on location in Spain and has a feud with short-tempered co-star Tony Franciosa
14 February 67	marries Patrick Curtis, a former press-agent, in Paris, France. He’s about 28; she’s 26. The ceremony is performed by the deputy mayor Maurise Benoit. Afterwards they drive off in a Rolls Royce to a champagne reception for the press and then to London for a brief honeymoon. A reporter asks about the whereabouts of her two children by a previous marriage.
	Danny Kaye throws a wedding reception for her. Among the guests are Peter O’Toole, Mia Farrow, and Christopher Plummer.
March 67	is supposed to play super sexy Jennifer in 20th Century-Fox’s upcoming Valley of the Dolls
?	producer Richard Zanuck sends the director of his upcoming Valley of the Dolls to test her in London. Zanuck wants her for the part, but the director doesn’t want her, and she refuses.
December 67	accompanies Bob Hope on his Christmas U.S.O. tour of Vietnam bases
February 68	confirms she won’t be nude in the upcoming The Lady in Cement
Fall 68	films 100 Rifles all over Spain, from Almeria to Quadriz, and near Madrid
March 70	there are rumors about a feud between her and co-star Mae West during the filming of Myra Breckenridge. Quarreling starts about the gowns. Raquel also says some “very unflattering things” about the director, Michael Sarne.
Spring 70	her big TV special “Raquel” is filmed entirely on location in London, Paris, Mexico, the Big Sur and Sun Valley. It costs $735,000, and it takes 90 days to film.
November 70	films The Beloved in Cyprus
8 January 71	she and her husband arrive in London
April 71	separates from Curtis, who moves out of their Beverly Hills home in one of their two Rolls-Royces
?	films Hannie Caulder in Almeria, Spain. The movie is produced by Curtwel Productions.
September 71	files for divorce from Curtis
6 January 72	is granted an interlocutory divorce decree from Curtis in Santa Monica court. She bursts into tears while testifying of her “irreconcilable differences.” Superior Judge G. O. Farley grants the decree after a hearing of less than ten minutes and awards her a token $1-a-month “spouse support.” Curtis doesn’t attend. She and Curtis recently had returned from location filming in Spain.
April 72	is Joe Namath’s date at the Oscar awards ceremonies
November 72	her newest love is 38-year-old Los Angeles costume designer Ron Talsky
January 73	is on top of the ”10 Worst-Dressed Women” list by fashion designer Mr. Blackwell. Julie Andrews is runner-up.
?	she and Talsky break up
?	is seen with TV actor Freddie Prinze
?	she and Talsky reconcile
March 75	turns down a part Columbia’s upcoming The Fan Club and gets some bad press from its author, Irving Wallace: “I think the reason Raquel doesn’t want to be in The Fan Club is that if she were to play the role of Sharon Fields she would have to learn to be an actress. And I am sure that challenge would be too much for her to face.”
August 75	she and Talsky are guests on “The Mike Douglas Show”
Fall 75	her ex, Patrick Curtis, remarries. Tahnee and Damon attend his wedding.
?	meets French TV director Andre Weinfeld in Paris during the filming of L’Animal with Jean-Paul Belmondo
April 78	is noted with young Weinfeld at the Broadhurst Theater in New York
9 April 79	attends the Academy Awards in Los Angeles
June 80	is noted with Weinberg at a Hollywood party
5 July 80	marries Weinberg in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico. He’s about 32/36, she’s 39. It’s his first marriage and her third. Her mother and her two children are present at the outdoor ceremony at the seacoast Hotel Twin Dolphin.
February 81	she and Weinberg are scheduled to attend a Red Cross gala in Lecce, Italy, for earthquake victims
	she and Weinberg are off to London and Paris to find European buyers for her “Raquel With Love” TV special
?	she and her husband form a production company and look for an apartment in New York
June 81	is scheduled for a part in The Swindle, to be filmed in San Francisco, Lake Como, Mount St. Michel, Lausanne, Geneva and Paris
October 81	she and Weinfeld buy a condominium in Manhattan
December 81	debuts on Broadway in Woman of the Year
?	is replaced by Debra Winger in MGM’s upcoming Cannery Row. She sues the studio and is awarded $10.8 million. In June 1990 a California judge upholds the judgment and awards her $5.3 million in damages plus interest.
September 82	she and her husband attend a fashion gala at the Metropolitan Museum in New York
December 82	the press tells that she leaves Woman of the Year because she expects a baby in August
March 83	suffers a miscarriage during a vacation with Weinberg on the Caribbean island of Mustique even though she is flown to Barbados for emergency treatment
11 April 83	is among the presenters at the Academy Awards
December 84	singer Barry Manilow goes to court to have her evicted from his $5,500-a-month 14th floor apartment overlooking Central Park, which he rented to her in September 1982. Raquel and her husband have until January 4th to reply to Manilow’s request for a judgment to remove them.
November 87	is seen with her husband and friends celebrating at New York’s Tunnel Club
October 90	there are rumors she will divorce Weinfeld and give him at least $1 million in community property
September 90	divorces Weinfeld
August 92	is noted dating costume designer Bob Moore
18 July 96	attends a charity gala in aid of A. P. L. A. in Los Angeles
27 June 97	her Victor and Victoria debuts on Marquis Theater in New York
Summer 98	there are rumors about a fling with Bob Dylan
18 February 98	she and Richard Palmer, co-owner of a chain of pizza eateries, attend the State Opera Ball in Vienna, Austria
September 98	becomes engaged to Richard Palmer
17 July 99	marries Palmer at her Beverly Hills home in a small ceremony. Palmer’s the owner of the Mulberry Street Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills and of Richie’s Neighborhood Pizza stores. He’s about 44; she’s 58. There are no plans for a honeymoon.
24 July 00	she and her husband attend the Hollywood premiere of The Nutty Professor II
30 March 01	is honored at the Las Palmas Festival in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain
August 03	amicably separates from Palmer. She and Palmer say that no third party is involved.
1 August 06	attends the Los Angeles premiere of Boynton Beach Club
29 March 10	her autobiography, Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage, is published
15 February 23	dies

Sources: Northwest Arkansas Times, Parade, The Weekly Magazine of Ventura County, The Lowell Sun, El Paso Herald Post, Newark Advocate, Seventeen, The Valley Independent, The Times Recorder, The News Tribune, The Independent, The Kokomo Morning Times, Mansfield News Journal, Screen Stories, The Salt Lake City Tribune, The Altoona Mirror, Reno Evening Gazette, Bristol Courier and Levittown Times, The Pasadena Independent, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, The Evening News, The Des Moines Register, Los Angeles Times, Oakland Tribune, The Independent Record, Lubbock Avalanche Journal, The Press-Courier, Naples Daily, Waterloo Courier, Charleston Daily Mail, Daily Intelligencer, The Sunday Gleaner, Winnipeg Free Press, Chronicle Telegram, The Lethbridge Herald, The Frederick Post, Daily Herald, www.Ancestry.com, pro.Corbis.com
Recommended Books: Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage by Raquel Welch Raquel Welch by Peter Haining
Links: Filmography