Top 8 Raquel Welch’s Sexiest, Most Iconic Roles

Raquel Welch was more than just a screen bombshell or a sex symbol. She stood out from the rest till her very last breath. Born as Jo Raquel Tejada, this Bolivian-American actress made her mark with early TV show appearances. But it was her breakthrough portrayal of Cora, the shrunken medical assistant in Fantastic Voyage, and her role in One Million Years BC that truly captivated sci-fi fans and moviegoers who kept coming back to see the stunning starlet in a fur bikini time and time again.

Over the following decades, Welch’s popularity skyrocketed, but she will always be remembered for her sexiest, funniest, and most iconic roles and appearances.

1. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

As mentioned before, Fantastic Voyage was Welch’s big breakout hit. Here she plays a hot doctor that gets shrunken down and enters the body of a dying scientist. Even small and barely visible, Raquel Welch was still bright enough for the viewers and studio execs to take a closer look. Or was it more of a stare? Either way, if Fantastic Voyage was Welch getting her foot in the door, with her next movie, the actress blasted it off the hinges!

2. One Million Years, BC (1966)

Enter Loana – a furkini-clad cavewoman who’s in the middle of a feud between two prehistoric tribes. Or something like that. Look, nobody watched this movie for the plot, except for maybe film students. The movie poster with Welch in it was so popular among men that it was sold separately and made quite a bank for the producers. No one knows how many Loana posters were sold back then, but it’s safe to say it was more than a hundred thousand.

3. Fathom (1967)

Fathom is your typical “badass spy woman kicking ass” type of movie, but back in the 60s’, this was a huge deal! Welch plays a thrill seeker named Fathom Harvill, who gets scooped up and trained by British Intelligence to prevent nukes from going off. It’s not as good or well-thought-out as the Bond series, but Fathom deserved its own franchise.