Elvis' Women: Raquel Welch

Raquel Welch

Roustabout, 1964

Real Name: Jo Raquel Tejada
Born: September 5, 1940 in Chicago, IL, USA.
Husbands: James Welch
Patrick Curtis
Andre Weinfeld
Richard Palmer

In the late Sixties, nobody personified "sex symbol" more than Raquel Welch. But her film career started rather innocuously with a bit part in Elvis' Roustabout. In the opening scene, Elvis is playing at "Mother's Tea House", and Raquel is one of the college girls, out with their boyfriends. Her first words on-screen: "Uh, how come they call this a tea house, dear?"

Raquel's film debut in Roustabout. Thanks to Stan for the video-caps!

She also shows up in this publicity still.
Raquel is the second from the right, in the blue.
(I believe that's Teri Garr between her and Elvis.)

One misconception about Raquel's appearance in Roustabout grew out of a mistake in Jerry Hopkins' 1970 biography, Elvis. He stated in a footnote that there "was a scene that had two pretty girls taking an outdoor shower...", and that "one of the girls was Raquel Welch, making a Hollywood debut she never talks about." This was actually Mariana Hill (who ALSO probably never talks about it!!), but, typically, the mistake lives on, and still crops up now and again. Currently, the back-cover of the video for Roustabout carries on this mistake in the form of a trivia question. Patrick Curtis emailed me saying that both he AND Raquel have tried to correct this and the video company wouldn't change it(!) But fans of Raquel know better: Rest assured, the girl in the shower is NOT Raquel, it's Mariana!

Stop complainin'... I'm not done yet!!

(meanwhile, check out the links...)

Raquel Links

Raquel Welch IMDB
TV Now: Raquel Welch - check out when Raquel's on TV this month!
Raquel Welch - short article on the Elvis Presley Music website, with nice interview quotes from Raquel about Elvis.
Raquel's Fan Club has a website with a bio, filmography, and news on Raquel's latest projects!
Dave's Raquel Welch Worship Site - Nice complete fan site with a bio page, movie list, and lots o' photos!
As always, the Classic Movies Page for Raquel is a very complete list of links!
Mr. Showbiz has a page for Raquel, of course!
LatinoLink: Raquel Gets Serious About Acting - nice interview!
Yahoo Club: Raquels - Yahoo club for Raquel, complete with messages, chat, photos, and links!