Raquel Welch, star of ‘A Million Years Ago’ or ‘Myra Breckinridge’ dies at 82

Raquel Welch, star of ‘A Million Years Ago’, died at the age of 82. of age, as confirmed by his son Damon. The actress died on Wednesday February 15 at her home in Los Angeles (United States) after a short illness. Iconic for her role in the aforementioned film, a fantastical adventure in which she wore a skimpy fur bikini, Welch has been described as “The Body” in homage to her stunning physique.

Despite the fact that the character in that tape was his catapult to fame, Welch never remembered him fondly.. ‘A million years ago’ was her second film and first leading role, a job for 20th Century Fox, a studio with which she had just signed a contract, which I found it far from inspiring. She barely had any dialogue, which, according to what The Hollywood Reporter said and collected, she wanted to amend without success. “The first day of shooting I was in line with the director, Don Chaffey, and I said very seriously, ‘Listen Don, I’ve been studying the script and I thought…’, He turned to me in amazement and said, ‘Are you thinking?! Do not do it”.

So his Loana was left without a voice, just a scantily clad Welshman who soon achieved sex symbol status. As she well recalls in her autobiography ‘Beyond the Cleavage’ (‘Beyond the cleavage’), which turned it into “every man’s fantasy”. Finally, championing the image of an extraordinary woman, Playboy magazine placed her third in their list of the 100 sexiest actresses of the 20th century, behind only Jayne Mansfield and always in first place when it comes to Marilyn Monroe .

Very much in line with the sentiment of the aforementioned blonde ambition, Welch assured years later that role was an erasure of her person beyond how beautiful her body was.. “In one fell swoop, everything in my life changed. and the real me disappeared. Everything was overshadowed by that tremendous sexual icon. She [refiriéndose a la Raquel Welch pública] a hole has been created in the consciousness of the viewers like a physical presence without a voice. I felt trapped”.

Born in Chicago in 1940 with the name of Jo Raquel Tejada, Raquel Welch rose to fame by her first husband’s last name, all because 20th Century Fox insisted they would cast her in Latina roles. Said studio also tried to get this actress to change her name to “Debbie,” which the ex-girlfriend of the time refused. And that’s how Welch’s career began, hand in hand with the local television weather report. Everything changed when she left her husband and she moved to Los Angeles with her two children.

Daughter of that industry

no contact, Welch was working his way up with small roles in two films led by Elvis Presley and the occasional secondary role in television dramas such as “Bewitched” or “Barco a la vista”. She managed to attract the attention of one of the majors and, after signing with Fox, starred in her first film ‘Amazing Trip’. Then came ‘A Million Years Ago’ and that picture he couldn’t escape from with roles like ‘My Friend the Devil’, a Stanley Donen film in which he had hardly any dialogue either. Welch tried to get off the plate with “Myra Breckinridge,” a film adaptation of a Gore Vidal novel about an acting professor who fakes his own death, changes his gender, and returns claiming to be his own widow. The film was rated by critics as “worst movie ever made”, but the performer defended his role to the end. “Myra Breckinridge is the antithesis of a sex symbol”he said in statements to GQ. “She is a revolutionary, a warrior”.

After a prolific 70, with films like ‘Kansas City Bomber’, ‘The Three Musketeers: The Queen’s Diamonds’ or ‘Sheila’s End’, his relationship with Hollywood ended like a rosary at dawn after Metro Goldwyn Mayer tried to blame him for production cost overruns on ‘Cannery Row’. The dispute resulted in a $10 million settlement for Welch, but the case caused me to end up on the industry blacklist.

Subsequently, he headlined the occasional TV movie such as ‘Right to Die’, got a taste of the world of sports and beauty by signing a book, and released the pop song ‘This Girl’s Back in Town’, in the late 80s. he character of the series “American Family” and already in the 2000s crossed “A very legal blonde” with a short role. But for the most part, Welch spent her final years away from acting and happily living alone in her Beverly Hills home, saying she didn’t want a man at all.. “I make a very good living and I enjoy it. I’m happy like this”.