From Movie Star to Mogul, Raquel Welch's Net Worth In 2023
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While it was Raquel Welch's status as a sex symbol that got the world's attention, it was her savviness that kept her going for decades, even when the system tried to silence her.
Raquel Welch's net worth proved that she was as brainy as she was beautiful.
Before it was common for stars to brand everything from lingerie to entire lifestyles, Welch carved out a niche that was immensely profitable: When her acting career slowed down, her endorsements picked up, allowing her to live very comfortably until her death in February 2023 at age 82.
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While it was Welch's status as a sex symbol that got the world's attention, it was her savviness that kept her going for decades, even when the system tried to silence her.
Throughout her career, Welch stuck to her guns in a number of ways: She refused to go by any other first name (even when studios told her "Raquel" may be hard for audiences to pronounce), and she kept the last name "Welch" after her divorce to avoid being typecast in only Latinx roles in Hollywood. She also took on a major film studio and won when they allegedly attempted to tarnish her good name.
Related: Raquel Welch Takes Herself Seriously
How did Raquel Welch become famous?
Raquel Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago in 1940 to a successful family: Her father was an aeronautical engineer and immigrant from Bolivia, while her mother was the daughter of architect Emery Stanford Hall.
Her family moved to San Diego, California, when she was a toddler, and Welch knew from a young age that she wanted to be a performer. She began ballet lessons when she was 7 years old, studying the art for 10 years before quitting because she was told she didn't have the right body type.
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Ballet may have been literally the only arena where Welch's figure was allegedly a problem. She began competing in numerous beauty pageants as a teen, winning several. She enrolled in San Diego State University on a theater scholarship and married her high school sweetheart James Welch, taking his last name professionally.
Raquel began doing local theater productions in 1958, then became a weather girl for local San Diego TV network KMFB. When she and James separated, Raquel and her children moved to Dallas, Texas, where she worked as a cocktail waitress and a part-time model for Neiman Marcus department stores.
She soon moved to Los Angeles, where she worked with former child star turned agent Patrick Curtis, with whom she worked to develop a reputation as a sex symbol. She quickly made her mark in film, starring alongside Elvis Presley in Roustabout and signed a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox in 1965.
In 1966, Raquel Welch became a star thanks to two movies: Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C., the latter of which featured the now-iconic image of her in a deer skin bikini.
What was Raquel Welch's net worth?
Raquel Welch's net worth was estimated at $40 million at the time of her death in February 2023. Her fortune is the result of her successful television and film career, as well as her endorsements and business savvy. Welch was the face of Foster Grant eyeglasses, as well as MAC Cosmetics, a HAIRuWEAR wig line, a jewelry brand and a skincare line.
Welch also starred in and produced The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program book and video series.
About a quarter of Welch's wealth comes from a $10.8 million lawsuit she won against MGM Studios. Welch was fired from the 1980 film adaptation of John Steinbeck's Cannery Row and replaced with Debra Winger, The Los Angeles Times reported. The studio alleged that they fired Welch because she insisted on having her hair and makeup done at home and not at the studio. Welch claimed that MGM fabricated the story to get out of paying her $250,000 fee for the film, as Winger accepted a smaller salary for the role.
At the time of the verdict in 1986, Welch joked that she won more in the lawsuit than the movie grossed—and she said that while she had faith in her case that she'd previously tried to settle the case out of court, but that the studio refused.
"The legal department still wouldn't give me any quarter. It was always a simple issue. I had a pay-or-play contract; when they fired me they should have paid me off," she told The Washington Post. "They ended up spending more money for their lawyers than my original settlement would have been. The reason I followed through on this is that they smeared my name. I had a great deal of faith in the case. However, I was amazed I won on every single count. I would have settled on a win just so I wouldn't have had to explain to people at cocktail parties for the next few years why I'd gotten fired from the film."
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"In their opening testimony, the MGM executives really made me angry by claiming the reason I was doing this following through with the trial was because I was an actress over 40 and generally actresses in that age bracket can't get roles anymore," she said, adding that she hadn't worked in Hollywood in five years at that point in part due to the studio giving her a difficult reputation.
"I don't want to use the term blackball, but it was obvious I wasn't getting offers that someone with my credits in the business would be receiving," Welch said. "I only got two firm offers during this time. One was to play in a vampire movie and the other was the role of a Nazi anti-Semite. It was obvious that I was not on anyone's prime list for work."
Thankfully, she got work once the lawsuit was over, including a memorable turn as an extremely volatile version of herself in Seinfeld.
What kind of car does Raquel Welch drive?
Raquel Welch drove a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTS Spyder. She reportedly fell in love with it while filming the movie Fathom in 1966 and went home with the car after production wrapped on the project.
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Did Raquel Welch win an Oscar?
Raquel Welch never won an Oscar, though she did accept one on behalf of Goldie Hawn in 1969 for Cactus Flower when Hawn couldn't attend the ceremony.
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Throughout her career, Welch won several awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for The Three Musketeers in 1974 and the Imagen Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 for the impact she made with her Latinx representation.
Who owns Raquel Welch wigs?
Raquel Welch's wig line is hugely successful. It's under the HairUWear umbrella.
“We are deeply saddened to hear of the news of our friend and legendary beauty Raquel Welch’s passing," HairUWear President and CEO Michael Napolitano said in a statement. "She has worked with us at HairUWear for 25 years and has been more than just a business partner. She was and still is an inspiration. We are honored to keep her memory, passion and timeless beauty alive through her legacy of Raquel Welch Wigs.”
