Raquel Welch was more than just a screen bombshell or a sex symbol. She stood out from the rest till her very last breath. Born as Jo Raquel Tejada, this Bolivian-American actress made her mark with early TV show appearances. But it was her breakthrough portrayal of Cora, the shrunken medical assistant in Fantastic Voyage, and her role in One Million Years BC that truly captivated sci-fi fans and moviegoers who kept coming back to see the stunning starlet in a fur bikini time and time again.
Over the following decades, Welch’s popularity skyrocketed, but she will always be remembered for her sexiest, funniest, and most iconic roles and appearances.
1. Fantastic Voyage (1966)
As mentioned before, Fantastic Voyage was Welch’s big breakout hit. Here she plays a hot doctor that gets shrunken down and enters the body of a dying scientist. Even small and barely visible, Raquel Welch was still bright enough for the viewers and studio execs to take a closer look. Or was it more of a stare? Either way, if Fantastic Voyage was Welch getting her foot in the door, with her next movie, the actress blasted it off the hinges!
2. One Million Years, BC (1966)
Enter Loana – a furkini-clad cavewoman who’s in the middle of a feud between two prehistoric tribes. Or something like that. Look, nobody watched this movie for the plot, except for maybe film students. The movie poster with Welch in it was so popular among men that it was sold separately and made quite a bank for the producers. No one knows how many Loana posters were sold back then, but it’s safe to say it was more than a hundred thousand.
3. Fathom (1967)
Fathom is your typical “badass spy woman kicking ass” type of movie, but back in the 60s’, this was a huge deal! Welch plays a thrill seeker named Fathom Harvill, who gets scooped up and trained by British Intelligence to prevent nukes from going off. It’s not as good or well-thought-out as the Bond series, but Fathom deserved its own franchise.
4. Bedazzled (1967)
A mere year after Welch’s huge success in One Million Years BC, and she’s back on the screen donning another hot bikini in the original version of Bedazzled. The actress briefly appears as a perfectly named servant of the devil – Lillian Lust, who is sent to seduce the film’s hapless hero in order to secure his soul. It’s a relatively small role, but Welch made such an impression that the 2000 remake paired her character with a male devil so Elizabeth Hurley could follow in her footsteps.
5. 100 Rifles (1969)
What’s a Western doing on a list like this, you ask? What if we told you this movie has a pretty steamy (for its time) love scene between Raquel Welch and Jim Brown? Even though this role was cheesy as hell, it did prove that the actress was more than capable of holding her own against big Hollywood names.
6. Kansas City Bomber (1972)
By this time in Welch’s career, she was seen as much more than just a lovely face. In Kansas City Bomber, she plays K.C. Carr, a single mother who’s really into Roller Games – a rather brutal and unforgiving sport. It’s one of Raquel’s most memorable roles simply due to the range of her acting skills. Sadly, the critics hated it, and it was a commercial flop.
7. Raquel: Total Beauty and Fitness (1984)
The 80s were a real gold mine for workout fans. Pretty much every movie star had one of those fitness VHS tapes, from Jane Fonda and Alyssa Milano to Heather Locklear and, of course, Raquel Welch. There’s not much to talk about here, as you’d have to see it with your own eyes. You don’t even have to exercise, just watch and enjoy the show.
8. Legally Blonde (2001)
As her career progressed, Welch often found herself playing exaggerated versions of herself. Whether it was singing with Miss Piggy in The Muppets or screaming at Elaine in Seinfeld, she displayed a flair for comedy that was never put to good use in her career. But that’s where Legally Blonde came in, giving her the opportunity to properly showcase her skills. As Mrs. Wyndham-Vandermark, she appeared only in a handful of scenes as the overly rejected first wife. But every viewer knew that Welch was the biggest bombshell of her era and that she was perfect for this small cameo.
