© by Gerald So | 6:00 AM
I was born in 1974 and probably saw Raquel Welch for the first time on her 1978 episode of THE MUPPET SHOW. Among my earliest ideas of beauty, she remained so the rest of her life.
I enjoyed many more of her TV guest appearances, from MORK & MINDY to LOIS & CLARK to SPIN CITY. Her sexpot screen persona was apparently unlike her private one. I admired her commitment to both.
In the 2000s, I bought a DVD box set of five Welch movies—ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.; FATHOM; BANDOLERO!; MYRA BRECKINRIDGE; and MOTHER, JUGS, AND SPEED—and got to see her in what many call her prime. Her prime to me was decades longer.
As iconic as she was, I was surprised to learn she never appeared nude. Way to leave something to the imagination.