Raquel Welch dead: ‘Fantastic Voyage’ actress and sex symbol was 82
Actress Raquel Welch, who rose to fame as a sex symbol of the 1960s, died Wednesday after a brief illness. She was 82.
“Raquel Welch, the legendary bombshell actress of film, television and stage, passed away peacefully early this morning after a brief illness,” her rep said in a statement Wednesday to The Post.
“The 82-year-old actress burst into Hollywood in her initial roles in [‘One Million Years B.C.’] and ‘Fantastic Voyage.’ Her career spanned over 50 years starring in over 30 films and 50 television series and appearances. The Golden Globe winner, in more recent years, was involved in a very successful line of wigs. Raquel leaves behind her two children, son Damon Welch and her daughter, Tahnee Welch.”
Her long resume also includes “Bedazzled,” “Myra Breckinridge” and a memorable turn on the sitcom “Seinfeld.” But it was her breakout role in the 1966 sci-fi movie “Fantastic Voyage” that made her a household name and cemented her sex symbol status.
“My co-star was Stephen Boyd, who was not hard on the eyes. I had a terrible crush on him. I was too scared to say anything about it because it was my first big movie with Fox, and I was in with a lot of heavyweights,” Welch told The Post in 2012 about her role as a medical team member trying to save an injured diplomat’s life.
Welch continued, “I had one really important line to say, and it was something to do with oxygenation, which I had written down on a piece of scenery so I could glance at it before they called me. It was kind of silly.”
Born on Sept. 5, 1940, Welch became interested in performing at a young age by taking part in ballet and beauty pageants. She attended San Diego State College on a theater arts scholarship and starred in several local theater productions.
Welch was a two-time Golden Globe nominee, winning a Globe in 1975 for best actress in a musical or comedy movie for “The Three Musketeers,” which also starred Faye Dunaway and Charlton Heston.
“My first day on set, Faye Dunaway comes over to me all dolled up, and she was so cute. She said, ‘Darling, I just want you to know, I’m a big fan of yours. But don’t you know, they’re all just waiting for us to tear each other’s eyes out. So let’s have fun with them,'” Welch recalled to The Post a decade ago.
“Everyone on set was going, ‘Uh-oh, here they come,’ standing there watching. And Faye gets out her fan and starts fanning herself, saying, ‘Darling, I adore your work.’ And I say, ‘Everything you do is genius!’ Everyone was so disappointed.”
Welch instantly became a pin-up girl when she wore a deerskin bikini in the 1966 movie “One Million Years B.C.” Despite her sex symbol status, she viewed herself differently.
“I was happy that I had got a break so I could have my career, but at the same time, it was like: ’This isn’t me. But this is what I have to do because this is my ticket to ride,’” she wrote of her “One Million Years B.C.” role in her memoir, “Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage.”
“I’m not in a position to just say: ‘Oh, no, wait a minute. You’ve got it all wrong. I’d like to do Shakespeare.’”
Welch was named one of the “100 Sexiest Stars in Film History” by Empire magazine in 1995.
Hugh Hefner, the creator and curator of the Playboy empire, once said she was the “woman that I most wanted to have in the magazine” because she seemed “ageless.”
“Raquel Welch, one of the last of the classic sex symbols, came from the era when you could be considered the sexiest woman in the world without taking your clothes off,” Hefner wrote in “Playboy: The Celebrities.”
Hefner continued, “She declined to do complete nudity, and I yielded gracefully. The pictures prove her point.”
Welch received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994. She portrayed a diva-ish version of herself on the 1997 “Seinfeld” episode “The Summer of George.” In it, Cosmo Kramer wins a Tony Award for his play, which stars Welch. In order to keep his award, he must fire the actress. It doesn’t go well.
Welch’s final movie role was in 2017’s “How to Be a Latin Lover.” Her final TV credit was also that year, “Date My Dad.” In later years, Welch found success with her signature wig collection, HAIRuWEAR.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of our friend and legendary beauty, Raquel Welch,” said Michael Napolitano, president/CEO of HairUWear, in a statement to The Post. “She worked with us at HairUWear for 25 years and has been more than just a business partner. She was and still is an inspiration. We are honored to keep her memory, passion and timeless beauty alive through her legacy of Raquel Welch Wigs.”
She was spotted for the first time in over two years while stopping by the Heritage Auctions building in Beverly Hills in September 2021.
She married her high school sweetheart, James Welch, in 1959 and had two children: Damon, 63, and Latanne “Tahnee,” 61. The couple divorced in 1964.
Welch would marry three more times, to Patrick Curtis (from 1967 to 1972), André Weinfeld (from 1980 to 1990) and Richard Palmer (from 1999 to 2004).
