Pinup Star Raquel Welch on This Day in History

 

Today in History: Raquel Welch was born on this day in 1940. When I was a kid in the 1970's in school, all the boys agreed that Raquel Welch was the hottest female alive. There were some mentions of Ann-Margret or Sophia Loren, but mostly it was Raquel Welch. As the 70's progressed though, young male hearts turned to Farrah Fawcett, Cheryl Tiegs and Barbi Benton. Raquel Welch actually auditioned for the role of Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island, but was too hot to play the “girl next door.”

Her rise to stardom in the mid-1960s was partly credited with ending Hollywood's vigorous promotion of the blonde bombshell. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy in 1974 for her performance in The Three Musketeers. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Television Film for her performance in the film Right to Die (1987). In 1995, Welch was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History". Playboy ranked Welch No. 3 on their "100 Sexiest Stars of the Twentieth Century" list.

Welch played a significant figure in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption. The poster that Andy Dufresne had on his prison cell wall at the time of his escape was the famous pinup image of Welch in One Million Years B.C. Prior to Dufresne's escape being realized, the warden refers to Welch as Miss Fuzzy Britches.

Raquel Welch also runs a successful business in designer wigs and hair extensions for women and men called HairUWear.

In 2014, during an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, Welch described herself as being on the conservative side, attributing it to her mother's midwestern values.