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Raquel Welch

The bombshell actress talks with Rebecca Dana about her revealing new memoir, Beyond the Cleavage, why American women have lost their feminine side, and other issues she’d like to get off her chest.

Published Mar. 31 2010 11:10AM EDT

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---bc_rzoug0 — Newscom,

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---bc_d5xk5k — Raquel Welch as the most famous cavewoman since Wilma Flintstone in 1966's One Million Years B.C.
Newscom

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---100-rifles_gdwhm8 — Welch broke barriers in 1969's 100 Rifles, which was one of the first films to feature an interracial sex scene (with costar Jim Brown).
20th Century Fox Film Corp. / Everett Collection

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---myra-breckinridge_mjmbhz — In 1970's Myra Breckinridge, Welch played a transgendered aspiring actress trying to make it in Hollywood, opposite Farrah Fawcett.
20th Century Fox Film Corp. / Everett Collection

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---fathom_oxfodo — In the role of bikini-clad spy Fathom Harvill, Welch became what Fathom's poster called "The world's most uncovered undercover agent!"
Everett Collection

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---wedding_kubv7t — On Valentine's Day, 1967, Welch married her manager Patrick Curtis in Paris.
AP Photo

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---sinatra_o6fsmz — Frank Sinatra and Welch on-set during filming of Lady in Cement in 1968. The film bombed at the box office, but later served as inspiration for the Austin Powers movies.
Terry O'Neill / Camera Press / Retna Ltd.

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---mork-mindy_sgrgct — Welch joined Robin Williams for a 1979 episode of his wacky sitcom Mork & Mindy. She played a character named Captain Nirvana.
Getty Images

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---queen_reryhv — Ursula Andress, Woody Allen, and Welch met Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Film Performance of Born Free at London's Odeon Theater in 1966.
Everett Collection

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---hope_v6bvvh — Welch and Bob Hope team up for a 1967 USO show entertaining troops in Vietnam.
Text & Illustrations / Camera Press / Retna

galleries/2010/03/31/raquel-welch/dana-raquel-welch---star_ke178i — Welch is joined by her son, Damon James Welch, as they celebrate the dedication of her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996.
Reed Saxon / AP Photo