Remembering Raquel Welch
Fox News host Neil Cavuto pays tribute to actress and icon Raquel Welch, a ‘remarkable woman who stood the test of time,’ on ‘Your World.’
Raquel Welch died on Wednesday at the age of 82 after a brief illness.
Welch’s emergence from the sea in a skimpy, furry bikini in the film “One Million Years B.C” propelled her to international sex symbol status throughout the 1960s and ’70s.
In addition to acting, Welch was a singer and dancer. She surprised many critics — and won positive reviews — when she starred in the 1981 musical “Woman of the Year” on Broadway, replacing a vacationing Lauren Bacall. She returned to the Great White Way in 1997 in “Victor/Victoria.”
Off-screen, Welch tied the knot four times. Though none of her marriages worked out, that didn’t seem to bother the actress.
RAQUEL WELCH’S LIFE IN PICTURES
“I never did get it right,” she told Piers Morgan on “Life Stories” in 2015. “And a lot of men don’t like the fact that when we go somewhere, I am the one who gets focused on.”
Raquel Welch walked down the aisle with four different men in her lifetime. (Photo by Chelsea Lauren)
“I don’t regret the marriages. I had real feelings for all of them,” Welch continued. “At the time, I thought it was love, and we could make a great life, but it wasn’t in the cards.”
She revealed that she was “too set in [her] ways.”
RAQUEL WELCH REMEMBERED BY HOLLYWOOD AFTER DEATH AT 82: ‘PROFESSIONAL AND GLAMOROUS BEYOND BELIEF’
“I like what I do, I actually enjoy being me, and I make a very good living at it, and I’m happy. I don’t have to have a man,” Welch added.
Here’s a look at the late actress’ four husbands:
James Welch
Shortly after high school, high school sweethearts James “Jim” Welch and a then 19-year-old Raquel tied the knot in Las Vegas in 1959. In her memoir, “Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage,” the actress recalled the first moment she saw her future husband.
Raquel was running to her American government class when she saw the “gorgeous” James and knew it was love at first sight.
“From the first minute I saw him, I secretly knew that I was destined to have his babies. In my emotionally charged, romantic young mind, I fixated on Jim as ‘my one and only,'” she said in the excerpt obtained by ABC News.
Raquel Welch, James Welch, and Tawnee Welch. (Photo by Ron Galella)
The same year they tied the knot, James and Raquel welcomed their first child, son Damon, and their daughter, Latanne “Tahnee” Welch, was born two years later in 1961.
Raquel’s father was opposed to her marrying her high school love.
“By marrying Jim, I was doing something for my own personal satisfaction and pretty much in defiance of my father’s wishes,” she said in her memoir.
Ultimately, Raquel and James divorced in 1964, reportedly due to her marrying young as well as different interests.
However, the actress famously kept her first husband’s last name.
Patrick Curtis
At the height of Welch’s fame, she met Hollywood film producer Patrick Curtis.
Raquel Welch and Patrick Curtis wed in 1967 before separating in 1972. They were pictured here in 1970. (Getty Images)
It was 1965 when the actress was working on “A Swingin’ Summer” with Curtis. Two years later, the couple tied the knot in Paris.
Welch and Curtis split in 1972, making her second marriage also her shortest. The film producer passed away in November 2022. He was 83.
Patrick Curtis died in Nov. 2022 at 83. The couple are pictured here in the year they married, 1967. (Getty Images)
André Weinfeld
Welch met André Weinfeld, a screenwriter, while in France in 1977. The pair worked on a number of projects together, including “From Raquel with Love,” a 1980 television special that featured Mickey Rooney.
Raquel Welch and her third husband, Andre Weinfeld, in 1990. (Photo by Ron Galella)
The same year, the couple wed in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Weinfeld and Welch were together for 10 years, which the French producer was proud of.
“We had a very happy marriage,” Weinfeld told Closer Weekly in 2015. “Today, Hollywood marriages last three months, and that’s considered long.”
The couple went on to separate in 1990. The pair reportedly called it quits due to distance, with Welch moving to Los Angeles and Weinfeld staying in New York.
Raquel Welch and Andre Weinfeld wed in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in 1980. (Photo by Ron Eisenberg)
Richard Palmer
In 1996, Welch met restaurateur Richard Palmer. Three years later, they were married.
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In an interview with the New York Post in 2000, Palmer explained what it was like to be “Mr. Raquel Welch.”
“My wife is a living legend,” he explained. “I get great seats at the fights. You go wherever you want to go. It’s great.”
Raquel Welch met her fourth and final husband, Richard Palmer, in 1996. (Photo by Ron Galella)
In 2003, the couple separated and officially divorced several years later.
After her fourth divorce, Welch reflected on whether marriage was any good for her.
Raquel Welch said she “never did get it right” when it came to marriage. (Frederick M. Brown)
“I don’t think I am that good at it,” she told Piers Morgan in 2015. “But I wouldn’t rule it out.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
