The Golden Globe winner, whose career spanned 50 years and included films like Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C., died at age 82 after a brief illness

By Kate Hogan
and Mia McNiece
Published on February 15, 2023 04:04 PM



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 Raquel Welch's Early Life  

Jo Raquel Tejada, a.k.a. Raquel Welch, was born on Sept. 5, 1940, in Chicago to Bolivian-born engineer Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo and his American wife, Josephine Sarah Halland."By age 7 I knew I wanted to be an actress," Welch told PEOPLE in 2010. "My parents enrolled me in a theater program. You could get away from some of the painfulness of real life. I always had flights of fancy."
However, she added, after finding fame, "I didn't know whether to cry because I was so frightened or be thrilled."

Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.