Raquel Welch's Real Name: Jo-Raquel Tejada

Quick answer: Raquel Welch's documented original name is Jo-Raquel Tejada. The Associated Press and The Guardian both record that form. The Guardian dates her birth to 5 September 1940 in Chicago, and AP reports that she died early on February 15, 2023, at age 82, after a brief illness (AP; The Guardian).

Real name and early life

She was known professionally as Raquel Welch. AP says the "Jo" in her name came from her mother, Josephine, and that she was born in Chicago and raised in La Jolla, California. The Guardian independently names Josephine (née Hall) and Armando Tejada, an aeronautical engineer from Bolivia, as her parents, and says the family moved to San Diego when she was two; she later joined the city's junior theatre attached to the Old Globe and began ballet classes. The Guardian's closing line gives the dates as born 5 September 1940 and died 15 February 2023.

Career highlights

AP and The Guardian both treat One Million Years B.C. (1966) as the role that made her an international star. The Guardian also lists Fantastic Voyage (1966), Bedazzled (1967), and 100 Rifles (1969). AP says she surprised many in the industry with The Three Musketeers, which earned her a Golden Globe, and with The Wild Party opposite James Coco, and that she was nominated for a Globe in 1988 for the television film Right to Die. The Guardian also notes later appearances including Legally Blonde and How to Be a Latin Lover. AP records a later cameo as herself on Seinfeld. The same obituary notes that her former husband Patrick Curtis became her manager and helped shape a career that included hundreds of magazine covers, exercise videos, and the book The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program, and that she later published the autobiography Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage. AP says she is survived by two children, Damon Welch and Tahnee Welch, who appeared in Cocoon (1985).

Death

AP reports that she died early on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, after a brief illness, at age 82, according to her agent, Stephen LaManna. The Guardian published an obituary the following day and gives the same date of death.

Name notes for searchers

Jo-Raquel Tejada is the documented original name; the professional name was Raquel Welch. Searchers looking for the star of One Million Years B.C. or Fantastic Voyage are usually aiming at the same person.