© Latinas in History 2008 |
WELCH, RAQUEL (1940 )
Jo
Raquel Tejada was born in Chicago. Her father, Armand C. Tejada, a Bolivian-born
aerospace engineer, relocated the family to California, where Raquel
was raised under an ethos of American assimilation. English was spoken
in the home and the family lived in non-Latino neighborhoods. As a child,
movies served as a form of escape from a household torn apart by marital
strife. Welch's favorite movie was the fantasy, The Red Shoes.
As a teen-ager, Welch's beauty and talent garnered numerous pageant
awards: Miss Contour, Miss La Jolla, Miss Photogenic Teen, and Miss
San Diego. She married in 1960, colored her hair blond, and changed
her last name to Welch. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Welch established
a career in the movies as a sex symbol in films like Fantastic Voyage
and One Million Years B.C. Performing multiple roles as a comedienne,
Welch costarred opposite numerous leading men, became a favorite star
of film and television directors and appeared in a number of screen
and television films. In 1975 she won the Golden Globe for the role
of Constance in The Three Musketeers, and in 1981, she surprised
critics with her successful Broadway debut as the headliner in the hit
musical Woman of the Year. Reawakening to her Latina identity
Raquel Welsh has made important contributions towards promoting a Latino
presence in television. Embarking on a busy acting career in films and
television into the twenty-first century, she played a leading role
as Aunt Dora in An American Family, the first PBS dramatic
series with a Latino theme. Raquel Welch authored a best-selling fitness
book stressing the virtues of yoga and nutrition and has created her
own line of wigs and beauty products.
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