Late Actress And 'Sex Symbol' Raquel Welch Refused To Go Nude On Screen—"I Am My Father's Daughter"
American actress Raquel Welch has passed away at the age of 82. Despite being known as a sex symbol, Welch never posed nude on screen. "I am my father's daughter, and that's just not the way you behave," she once said.
Fantastic Voyage actress Raquel Welch passed away Wednesday morning at the age of 82. The model died in her LA home following a "brief illness," according to her business manager, Steve Sauer.
Welch was known for being a bombshell sex icon, appearing in dozens of movies and gaining international stardom for her beauty and talents. In 1995, Empire magazine chose the star as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History." Playboy magazine had also ranked Welch third place on their "100 Sexiest Stars of the Twentieth Century" list.
Despite her bikini-clad appearances in numerous films, Welch has never gone nude in her pictures or movies. "I am my father's daughter, and that's just not the way you behave," she told Piers Morgan on Life Stories years ago. "You don't do that if you are a certain kind of a woman, and that's the kind of woman I was raised to be."
Welch even posed in a red swimsuit for Hugh Hefner's Playboy in 1979 and received full payment – without exposing everything. "I got called into the front office to speak with Hugh in his bathrobe," the actress recalled. "I went over to the mansion, and I brought my lawyer with me, and I sat there in front of him, and I said, 'What's the problem Hugh?' and he said, 'Well, there's no tits, and there's no ass.'" She continued, "I said, 'Isn't that the deal we made?' He said, 'Yes, but it's boring.'"
In 2010, Welch published Beyond the Cleavage, a book on her views relating to womanhood. In it, she discusses love, style, sex, body image, career, family, aging, and more. "Personally, I always hated feeling so exposed and vulnerable [in romantic scenes],” she wrote, referring to her refusal to go naked on screen. "I’ve definitely used my body and sex appeal to advantage in my work, but always within limits. I reserve some things for my private life, and they are not for sale."
The '60s icon "passed away peacefully" on February 15 and is survived by her two children, Damon and Latanne "Tahnee" Welch.
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