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Fantastic Voyage (1966)

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Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Raquel welch: cora peterson.

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Cora : I think it's very exciting. We're going to see things no one has ever seen before. Not just something under a microscope. Think about it.

Grant : That's the trouble; I am. Being shrunk!

Grant : For a nice young lady you play with the damnedest toys, Miss Peterson.

Cora : That'll teach you where to keep your hand.

Cora : Listen, the heart.

Dr. Michaels : Yes, it's slowed down a great deal.

Grant : It sounds like heavy artillery.

Dr. Michaels : It throws down quite a barrage. Over 40 million beats in a year.

Dr. Duval : And every beat separates a man from eternity.

Cora : Dr. Duval, what could those be?

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Some of Raquel Welch’s best films are hard to find. Here’s where you can watch them

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Raquel Welch , the 1960s international sex symbol whose acting career spanned more than half a century, died Wednesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 82.

Welch shot to stardom in the ‘60s with the films “Fantastic Voyage” and “One Million Years B.C.” The pulpy movie poster for the latter famously featured Welch front and center in a doeskin bikini, and the rest was history.

“There was this bikini picture that came out that caused all the stir,” she told the New York Post in 2014. “I had been away shooting the film in the Canary Islands, and it was very remote. By the time I got back, everybody seemed to know who I was. I couldn’t have been happier, really, or more surprised. How was this possible?”

Entertainment & Arts

Raquel Welch, international icon who starred in ‘Fantastic Voyage,’ dies at 82

Raquel Welch, the 1960s legend who starred in ‘One Million Years B.C.’ and ‘Fantastic Voyage,’ has died, her family announced Wednesday. She was 82.

Feb. 15, 2023

Welch acted in more than 30 films, dozens of television shows and made cheeky appearances on variety shows, like when she performed “I’m a Woman” alongside Cher on “The Cher Show” in 1975.

She even appeared on an episode of “Seinfeld,” playing herself, in which she got into a cat fight with Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Elaine, and played Mrs. Windham Vandermark in the 2001 hit film “Legally Blonde.” In 1975, she won a Golden Globe Award for best actress for her role in “The Three Musketeers.”

While many of Welch’s best performances are now hard to find, here’s how you can watch five of her most notable films.

Raquel Welch’s life and career in photos

Here’s a look at Raquel Welch’s life and career in photos, from ‘One Million Years B.C.’ to ‘The Three Musketeers.’

‘Fantastic Voyage’ (1966)

This was Welch’s breakthrough role, in which she portrayed Cora Peterson, the technical assistant for Dr. Duval, in this sci-fi adventure about a submarine crew tasked with repairing the brain of a scientist who’s nearly been assassinated. The crew is shrunken microscopically and injected into the bloodstream of the injured scientist. Naturally, they face many obstacles during their mission.

You can stream “Fantastic Voyage” on HBO Max and Amazon Prime .

‘One Million Years B.C.’ (1966)

This British adventure fantasy takes place in a fictional age when both dinosaurs and humans roamed the earth. Welch starred as Loana, a woman of the Shell tribe. When Tumak is banished from his savage Rock tribe to a harsh desert, he battles various prehistoric creatures before collapsing on a remote beach, which is where he meets Loana. Together they fight hunters and volcanoes and, of course, fall in love.

You can buy “One Million Years B.C.” on DVD and Blu-ray via Amazon .

Raquel Welch was labeled a sex symbol. But she always knew she was much more than that

Actor Raquel Welch, who died Wednesday, spoke to The Times over the years about breaking out as a sex symbol and moving beyond that stereotype.

‘Myra Breckinridge’ (1970)

This 1970 film adaptation of Gore Vidal’s satirical novel starred Welch as a trans woman in the title role. After Myron Breckinridge gets a sex-change operation in Copenhagen, she returns to America as Myra, where she arrives at her Uncle Buck’s acting school claiming to be Myron’s widow and that she’s been granted half of the school or $500,000 in his will.

You can buy “Myra Breckinridge” on DVD or VHS via Amazon , or watch it in Spanish on YouTube .

‘The Three Musketeers’ (1974)

Welch starred as Constance Bonacieux in this 1974 swashbuckler film. Swordsman D’Artagnan arrives in Paris chasing his dreams to become a king’s musketeer, where he commits many a faux pas and gets robbed, among other indignities. Ultimately, he finds himself in conflict with three musketeers who each challenge him to a duel.

However, when they are ambushed, they decide to join forces in opposition to the Cardinal. D’Artagnan then falls for his landlord’s wife, Welch’s Bonacieux, and they begin a torrid love affair.

You can stream “The Three Musketeers” on Amazon Prime .

Hollywood pays tribute to Raquel Welch, a legend who was ‘glamorous beyond belief’

Reese Witherspoon, Chris Meloni and Sandra Bernhard are among the many honoring Hollywood legend Raquel Welch, who died Wednesday at age 82.

‘How to Be a Latin Lover’ (2017)

In her final film, Welch portrayed widowed billionaire Celeste Birch, the target of Maximo, a rusty gigolo who’s made his career seducing wealthy older women. Maximo is shocked when his 80-year-old wife leaves him for a younger man, setting off his pursuit of Celeste.

You can stream “How to Be a Latin Lover” on Showtime , or rent it on Amazon Prime .

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Emily St. Martin is a former entertainment reporter on the Fast Break Desk. Before joining the Los Angeles Times, she contributed to the New York Times, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, NBC, Vice, Los Angeles Magazine and the Southern California News Group. She also previously worked at the Hollywood Reporter. In 2022, she won third place for best news feature with the L.A. Press Club. St. Martin has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of La Verne and a master’s in creative nonfiction from UC Riverside.

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Six must-see films with Raquel Welch, from 'Fantastic Voyage' to 'Myra Breckinridge'

Jonathan Franklin

Actress Raquel Welch arrives at the 2013 Entertainment Weekly Pre-Emmy Party at Fig & Olive on Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 in Los Angeles. Welch died Wednesday at age 82 after battling a brief illness. Dan Steinberg/Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP hide caption

Actress Raquel Welch arrives at the 2013 Entertainment Weekly Pre-Emmy Party at Fig & Olive on Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 in Los Angeles. Welch died Wednesday at age 82 after battling a brief illness.

Raquel Welch, a veteran actress who rose to fame as a sex symbol in the 1960s and 70s, died Wednesday in Los Angeles at the age of 82 after a brief illness. The news was confirmed to NPR by her son, Damon.

In a career spanning nearly six decades, Welch started in the 1960s with appearances on TV shows such as The Virginian , McHale's Navy and Bewitched. These appearances paved the way for back-to-back roles in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C. in 1966.

Throughout her career, Welch was a two-time Golden Globe nominee, winning Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for her role in the 1973's The Three Musketeers as Constance de Bonacieux, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Raquel Welch, actress and Hollywood sex symbol, dead at 82

Here's a look at some of her most notable roles:

1. One Million Years B.C. (1966)

The 1966 film, set during a fictional prehistoric age where cavemen and dinosaurs co-exist in the world, tells the story of prehistoric man Tumak as he is banished from his savage tribe. Welch only had a few lines, but her animal skin two-piece became part of pop culture history.

2. The Three Musketeers (1973)

An adaptation of the 1844 Alexandre Dumas novel, the 1973 film tells the story of swordsman D'Artagnan (played by Michael York), after he travels to Paris with the hope of joining the royal guard.

Welch plays the role of Constance Bonacieux, who is a dressmaker to the Queen, Anne of Austria.

Latinos in Hollywood

Latino legends helped pave the way in hollywood, but the road is still rocky, 3. fantastic voyage (1966).

This 1960s film follows scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) as he develops a way to shrink humans and other objects for brief periods. Benes is transported by the CIA to America but is unfortunately attacked en route.

To save Benes, a submarine is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his bloodstream with a small crew; as they have a limited time to get out before the miniaturization wears off.

4. 100 Rifles (1969)

Welch made film history in this 1969 Western, starring alongside African American actor and former professional football player Jim Brown. The movie, set in 1912 in Sonora, Mexico, follows native revolutionary Yaqui Joe (played by Burt Reynolds) as he robs a bank to buy guns for the Yaqui people.

Publicity still portrait of American actors Raquel Welch and Jim Brown in the western drama '100 Rifles' (20th Century Fox), 1969. John Kisch Archive/Getty Images hide caption

Publicity still portrait of American actors Raquel Welch and Jim Brown in the western drama '100 Rifles' (20th Century Fox), 1969.

However, he finds himself sought by the Mexican Army.

Welch — who played the role of Sarita — along with Brown sparked controversy for their sizzling interracial love scenes in the movie.

5. Myra Breckinridge (1970)

Based on Gore Vidal's 1968 satirical novel of the same name, Welch in this film played an aspiring actress who underwent a gender reassignment surgery in Europe, eventually traveling to Hollywood in search of fame and her late wealthy uncle's estate.

6. How to Be a Latin Lover (2017)

In her final film, the 2017 comedy features Welch as widowed billionaire Celeste Birch, who tries to fend off romantic advances from a rusty gigolo, Maximo (Eugenio Derbez), who's made a career of seducing rich older women.

After being dumped by his wealthy 80-year-old wife, Maximo plans to seduce Celeste as he hopes to live the high life once again.

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Raquel Welch, 1940-2023: Remembering the actor and model’s ‘Fantastic Voyage’

• Raquel Welch, actor, model and sex symbol, dies at 82

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Movie Review

Fantastic voyage.

US Release Date: 08-24-1966

Directed by: Richard Fleischer

Starring ▸ ▾

• Stephen Boyd ,  as
• Raquel Welch ,  as
• Edmond O'Brien ,  as
• General Carter
• Donald Pleasence ,  as
• Dr. Michaels
• Arthur O'Connell ,  as
• Col. Donald Reid
• William Redfield ,  as
• Capt. Bill Owens
• Arthur Kennedy ,  as
• Jean Del Val ,  as
• Barry Coe ,  as
• Communications Aide
• Ken Scott ,  as
• Secret Service
• Shelby Grant ,  as
• James Brolin as

Raquel Welch and Stephen Boyd in Fantastic Voyage

Fantastic Voyage was Raquel Welch’s first starring role but it would not be until later that same year with One Million Years B.C . that she became a superstar. Fantastic Voyage is a better film but Welch’s talents were not properly utilized. That is to say, she has short dark hair and never shows any skin. For One Million Years B.C . she wore the fur bikini and her hair was long and dyed blonde.

Fantastic Voyage begins like a spy film with a scientist escaping from behind the Iron Curtain with the help of Grant, a CIA agent, played by Stephen Boyd. Driving away from the airport they get attacked and the scientist injures his head, resulting in a blood clot forming in his brain. Grant is then taken to a secret underground government facility that has the means to shrink humans and objects. He is directed to join a group of scientists that are going to be miniaturized inside a vehicle that will be injected into the comatose patient so as to find and destroy the blood clot.

For some reason, they have only one hour to get in, destroy the clot and get back out. The rest of the film pretty much plays out in real time. We see the journey inside the human body as well as the technicians monitoring them on the outside.

The special effects are decent enough. There is no need trying to bring up what is and what is not anatomically correct. Just accept it all and have fun. Although there is one scene where Welch is scuba diving outside the vehicle where her foot accidentally hits the side of some body part and you can tell that it is nothing more than some hanging fabric designed to resemble a part of an organ.

This group of inner space adventurers must battle blood circulation currents, aggressive white blood cells and a traitor among them. It all makes for a wonderful science fiction film. At one point, Welch gets attacked and covered by cells. The men pull her into their vehicle and begin pulling them off of her. Notice that one guy grabs one directly from the top of her right breast. Speaking of her talents, in another scene, Boyd grabs Welch by the arm to stop her from sliding away. If you watch Boyd’s eyes, the entire time he is trying to hold Welch in place he is staring at her breasts.

However, according to Welch, Boyd was gay. Speaking at a film retrospective in New York three years ago, she said, “He was so hot with his cleft chin and he was so not interested in me.” She described how she tried to seduce him while in New York on a publicity tour for the film. She invited him into her hotel room, “for a drink” but he turned down her offer saying, “An actress is a little bit more than a woman, but an actor is a little bit less than a man.” She immediately took that to mean he was gay. I found it more interesting when I found out that the Irish born Boyd was up for the part of James Bond before it went to Sean Connery.

Fantastic Voyage is not some great film that deserves a cult following but it moves along fast and entertainingly enough to keep you interested throughout. If only they could have talked Welch into doing at least one scene in a bikini. Hey, she could have had one on below her scuba suit.

Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch in Fantastic Voyage .

In regards to Welch, it does seem like a wasted opportunity not to have her show some skin, but even in the all-covering wet suit, there's no hiding her talents. While that may sound sexist, it's nothing compared to the attitudes in the film where one of the Generals at first refuses to allow a woman to even go on the mission. And let's be honest. When you hire someone who looks like Welch you're hiring her for a specific reason. The bigger sin is the extremely unflattering hairstyle she's forced to wear. As unpleasant as they are though, the hair and modesty are in line with the film's very realistic approach to a farfetched idea.

The special effects are decent enough for the time, but the technology is laughably inconsistent. The writers created several advanced technologies to accommodate the story, including the ability to shrink anything down to microscopic size and laser guns, but the submarine can only communicate via Morse code and the charts of the human body are generic line drawings on paper. Also in regards to the technology, as Eric noted there is an arbitrary hour deadline added to the shrinking technology that is obviously included for no other reason than to bring a ticking clock element to the story.

Although it's an entertaining story, it's not a very deep one. The characters are never fully developed. Boyd is steely-jawed as Grant, but is a rather bland hero. The traitor's motivation is never deeply explored, but I guess in those days it was enough to say he was a communist. Still, it makes you wonder how someone with his political persuasion could have gained a position of such trust. Two of the most enjoyable characters are the Colonel and the General on the outside who occasionally bicker like an old married couple.

To help promote the film, the producers approached Isaac Asimov to write a novelized adaptation of the story. At first he rejected the idea, seeing it as hackwork, but was eventually persuaded to take on the job. In the process he corrected several of the plot holes that are still present in the filmed version, such as the fact that the laser gun, the remains of the Proteus, and gallons of saline solution are left inside Benes's body and never mentioned, even though they should be about to regain their original size and thus destroy the patient. Asimov was also approached in the 1980s to write a sequel, but he didn't care for the idea of having a Soviet and an American sub doing battle inside a human body, which was the outline he was given, and so nothing came of the idea.

With everything in the film treated with the utmost seriousness, a little more comic relief would have helped move things along. As it is, it's entertaining enough, but falls short of being truly great.

Donald Pleasence and Stephen Boyd in Fantastic Voyage .

From a purely entertainment viewpoint, Fantastic Voyage has become dated and rather silly. However, if the viewer is able to step outside of time (so to speak) and watch the film with fresh eyes it remains a creative and imaginative, well-made piece of celluloid. What time has done to the movie is to add a layer of camp to it. There are plot holes galore and some of the special effects now look positively prehistoric, but the CinemaScope holds up as do the performances from the cast, all of whom play it very seriously.

Scott, you wrote that when hiring someone who looks like Raquel Welch you're doing so for a specific reason. Namely her curvaceous figure and stunning beauty. I agree, but the same can be said of Stephen Boyd. Surely his chiseled face and well-built physique got him into the movies in the first place. It certainly wasn't his Shakespeare. I have no idea whether or not Stephen Boyd was gay (although I secretly hope he was) but I do know that he died tragically young of a heart attack at the age of 45 in 1977, less than ten years after making this movie. He and Welch made one incredibly attractive pair.

The rest of the cast is filled with reliable old faces including Donald Pleasence (in villain mode), Arthur O'Connell, Edmund O'Brien and Arthur Kennedy. Also the future Mr. Barbra Streisand himself, James Brolin, has a bit part as a technician. But to be honest the cast takes a backseat to the special effects and the sci/fi storyline.

I disagree with Scott in that I don't think the script or acting needed to be intentionally campy - although I concede his point that a little more levity might have moved things along a bit faster. But it's the fact that they all play it so straight that makes it campy, since camp works best when it's unintentional. And despite the primitive nature of the special effects, Fantastic Voyage still looks pretty damn good. Like Eric said, just sit back, suspend disbelief, and enjoy the ride.

Photos © Copyright Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1966)

© 2000 - 2017 Three Movie Buffs. All Rights Reserved.

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Raquel Welch, international icon who starred in 'Fantastic Voyage,' dies at 82

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Raquel Welch had only three lines in the 1966 film “One Million Years B.C.,” but her doeskin bikini did all the talking anyway, launching her as an international icon almost overnight. She parlayed that notoriety into a Hollywood career that burned bright for nearly 60 years.

Welch died Wednesday, according to her management company, Media Four. She was 82.

"Raquel Welch, the legendary bombshell actress of film, television and stage, passed away peacefully early this morning after a brief illness," said a statement from Media Four. "Her career spanned over 50 years starring in over 30 films and 50 television series and appearances. The Golden Globe winner, in more recent years, was involved in a very successful line of wigs."

Welch was a La Jolla beauty queen-turned-single mom, but to the world, she was an exotic actor whose smoldering looks and curvy figure suited the mood of the swinging 1960s.

“I liked that there was something very superhero about her,” Welch told The Times in 2016, referring to her role as Loana the cave girl. “At least I wasn’t one of those mincing little girls; I never wanted to be that.”

Indeed, Welch had a complicated relationship with her persona. Forever determined to prove that she was more than a sex symbol , she was rarely taken as seriously as she took herself. And though she proudly refused to do nude scenes, her fame was always tied directly to her sexuality, a fate she accepted with regret.

"There was this perception of 'Oh, she’s just a sexpot. She’s just a body. She probably can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.'" she told Men's Health in 2012.

"A unique beauty who left her one of a kind groovy vibe wherever she went," actor and comedian Sandra Bernhard tweeted in a tribute Wednesday, one of many Hollywood remembrances .

In an era when men often considered women largely ornamental, Welch earned a reputation for being strong-willed and independent. In 1970, at the peak of her fame, she took a role that no one wanted as a transgender woman in the film adaptation of Gore Vidal’s satirical novel “Myra Breckinridge.”

Welch said she asked to be in the movie because she was a fan of Vidal's book and thought it would offer a dramatic role that might take her career in a new direction.

But, she said, the final script was stripped of the book's off-color humor and absurdity that she had so enjoyed. Welch ended up hating the finished project, as did audiences and critics. The film, perhaps, became best known for the fight she had on set with her co-star, Mae West, over who got to wear a black dress.

"I couldn’t control that the script wasn’t coming together," Welch said in her defense. "Each rewrite got further and further from making any sense."

A decade later, Welch sued MGM when the studio replaced her with a much younger, more affordable Debra Winger in the 1982 film version of John Steinbeck's World War II-era novel “Cannery Row.”

Welch claimed the studio fired her because of her age and to save money, in the process ruining her career just as she was poised to win recognition as a serious actor. The studio said she was let go for showing up late and taking too long in makeup.

After a six-year legal battle, she won a $14-million settlement. But in the process, she earned — rightly or wrongly — a reputation for being difficult, and her film career largely flickered out.

Welch blamed Hollywood's reluctance to embrace older women for her diminished career.

"As life goes on you get more valuable as a person. Many women look better," she told The Times in 2010. "Personally, I think I look better because I have lived and I have a different kind of aura about me having lived."

Born Jo Raquel Tejada on Sept. 5, 1940, in Chicago, Welch was the oldest of three children. Her father was a Bolivian-born aeronautical engineer who moved his family to San Diego when Welch was a toddler to design aircrafts during World War II.

He was a volatile man who bullied the household, especially her mother, a seamstress of English descent. Welch once threatened him with a fireplace poker to protect her mother.

A star student, Welch started winning beauty pageants when she was 14, ultimately earning the state title of Maid of California in 1958, the year she graduated from high school. Though she attended San Diego State University on a drama scholarship, she dropped out to get married and take a job as a weather girl at a local TV station.

Welch married her high-school sweetheart, James Welch, and had two children by the time she was 21. After they separated, Welch moved to Los Angeles with her children to pursue acting. Within three years, she was a superstar .

She started out earning small roles in popular TV shows and films, such as her turn as a coed in Elvis Presley’s “Roustabout.” She got her first lead role as a bikini-clad know-it-all in the 1965 film “A Swingin’ Summer."

After a screen test opposite James Coburn for the 1966 James Bond spoof “Our Man Flint,” she became one of the last contract players at 20th Century Fox to sign a multiyear deal.

One of the studio's first moves, she said, was to suggest that she change her first name to Debbie, saying that Raquel "felt too ethnic." She refused.

"I'm proud of my Bolivian heritage," she told The Times years later.

She quickly landed a role as a doctor in the 1966 Oscar-winning drama “Fantastic Voyage” and then her career-making appearance in the prehistoric remake “One Million Years B.C.” That film’s poster launched her to stardom.

“In one fell swoop, everything in my life changed and everything about the real me was swept away,” she wrote in her 2010 memoir, “Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage.” “All else would be eclipsed by this bigger than life sex symbol.”

Welch went on to become a pop culture icon, equal parts self-mocking bombshell and glamour-driven variety-show host. She earned a Golden Globe for her demure role in the star-studded 1973 comedy “The Three Musketeers” and also starred in the roller-derby drama “Kansas City Bomber” and the neo-noir mystery “The Last of Sheila."

In 1981, Welch starred on Broadway in the musical “Woman of the Year,” earning critical raves. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for portraying a woman with Lou Gehrig’s disease in the 1987 TV drama “Right to Die.”

During the 1990s, Welch appeared on several TV shows, co-starring with Lauren Hutton in the drama “C.P.W.” in 1996, appearing in a recurring role on “Spin City” and even playing herself on an episode of “Seinfeld.”

In the 2000s, Welch embraced her Latin heritage by co-starring in PBS’ Emmy-nominated series “American Family,” about a Latino family struggling in Los Angeles. She also had a scene-stealing role in the 2001 film “Legally Blonde” opposite Reese Witherspoon.

"So sad to hear about Raquel Welch's passing. I loved working with her on Legally Blonde," Witherspoon tweeted Wednesday. "She was elegant, professional and glamorous beyond belief. Simply stunning."

In 2017, Welch co-starred in the ensemble comedy “How to Be a Latin Lover” with Rob Lowe and Salma Hayek and as the mother-in-law in the Up TV sitcom “Date My Dad.” More recently, she was known for developing her own successful wig line.

Though she believed they held her back, she didn't regret taking on the sex-kitten roles that propelled her early career.

“I am not a fool,” she told The Times in 2010. “I realized when I came along, I wasn’t Meryl Streep who had been put into a bikini. I was somebody that got rocketed into the spotlight and superstardom overnight. I knew this was going to give me an opportunity and I should make the best of it."

She is survived by son Damon James Welch and daughter Tahnee Welch.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .

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Six must-see films with Raquel Welch, from 'Fantastic Voyage' to 'Myra Breckinridge'

by Jonathan Franklin

• Raquel Welch
• Pop Culture

Raquel Welch, a veteran actress who rose to fame as a sex symbol in the 1960s and 70s, died Wednesday in Los Angeles at the age of 82 after a brief illness. The news was confirmed to NPR by her son, Damon.

In a career spanning nearly six decades, Welch started in the 1960s with appearances on TV shows such as The Virginian , McHale's Navy and Bewitched. These appearances paved the way for back-to-back roles in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C. in 1966.

Throughout her career, Welch was a two-time Golden Globe nominee, winning Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for her role in the 1973's The Three Musketeers as Constance de Bonacieux, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Here's a look at some of her most notable roles:

1. One Million Years B.C. (1966)

The 1966 film, set during a fictional prehistoric age where cavemen and dinosaurs co-exist in the world, tells the story of prehistoric man Tumak as he is banished from his savage tribe. Welch only had a few lines, but her animal skin two-piece became part of pop culture history.

2. The Three Musketeers (1973)

An adaptation of the 1844 Alexandre Dumas novel, the 1973 film tells the story of swordsman D'Artagnan (played by Michael York), after he travels to Paris with the hope of joining the royal guard.

Welch plays the role of Constance Bonacieux, who is a dressmaker to the Queen, Anne of Austria.

3. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

This 1960s film follows scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) as he develops a way to shrink humans and other objects for brief periods. Benes is transported by the CIA to America but is unfortunately attacked en route.

To save Benes, a submarine is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his bloodstream with a small crew; as they have a limited time to get out before the miniaturization wears off.

4. 100 Rifles (1969)

Welch made film history in this 1969 Western, starring alongside African American actor and former professional football player Jim Brown. The movie, set in 1912 in Sonora, Mexico, follows native revolutionary Yaqui Joe (played by Burt Reynolds) as he robs a bank to buy guns for the Yaqui people.

However, he finds himself sought by the Mexican Army.

Welch — who played the role of Sarita — along with Brown sparked controversy for their sizzling interracial love scenes in the movie.

5. Myra Breckinridge (1970)

Based on Gore Vidal's 1968 satirical novel of the same name, Welch in this film played an aspiring actress who underwent a gender reassignment surgery in Europe, eventually traveling to Hollywood in search of fame and her late wealthy uncle's estate.

6. How to Be a Latin Lover (2017)

In her final film, the 2017 comedy features Welch as widowed billionaire Celeste Birch, who tries to fend off romantic advances from a rusty gigolo, Maximo (Eugenio Derbez), who's made a career of seducing rich older women.

After being dumped by his wealthy 80-year-old wife, Maximo plans to seduce Celeste as he hopes to live the high life once again.

Support quality journalism, like the story above, with your gift right now.

'Fantastic Voyage' and 'One Million Years B.C.' star Raquel Welch dies at 82

Welch leaves a long legacy of film and television projects in her 50-years in show business.

Award-winning American actress Raquel Welch has died at the age of 82 following a short illness after a prolific career in Hollywood that included starring roles in a pair of classic science fiction and fantasy films with "Fantastic Voyage" and "One Million Years B.C."

Per Deadline , Welch passed away on Wednesday (Feb. 15) leaving a legacy of more than 50 feature films and dozens of TV series appearances that included roles in "McCale's Navy," "Bewitched," "The Virginian," and even a later 1997 cameo on "Seinfeld." 

Born in Chicago on September 5, 1940 as Jo Raquel Tejada, Welch was a theater arts major at San Diego State University prior to scoring small screen gigs on her way to larger fame. In 1966, her on-screen charisma and considerable sex appeal took Hollywood by storm and landed Welch major roles in two iconic 1966 feature films that still resonate with audiences today

First was director Richard Fleischer's science fiction fantasy adventure, "Fantastic Voyage." Here she portrayed the character of Cora Peterson, a medical assistant miniaturized along with a special team inside a submarine-like craft and injected into the body of a dying Cold War scientist to try and save his life. The imaginative production was nominated for five Oscars at the 39th Academy Awards, eventually winning for both Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction.

"Fantastic Voyage" has been targeted for a remake over the decades by everyone from filmmakers James Cameron and Roland Emmerich, to Sean Levy and Guillermo del Toro yet the movie still remains unmade.

Next was the Hammer Films/Seven Arts fantasy epic, "One Million Years B.C.," which was first released in the U.K. in December of 1966 before scoring a U.S. rollout the next year in a slightly edited form. Not exactly historically accurate, the prehistoric spectacle saw Welch playing Loana, a scantily-clad cavewoman of the Shell Tribe who hooks up with the banished Tumak (John Richardson) of the Rock Tribe in a fight for survival amid angry marauding dinosaurs. Legendary stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen provided the impressive creature effects. 

Later performances in movies like "Bandolero!," "100 Rifles," "Myra Breckinridge," "Kansas City Bomber," "Fuzz," "The Three Musketeers," and "The Four Musketeers" solidified her place as an international sex symbol and bankable Hollywood star.

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Welch is survived by her two children, son Damon Welch and daughter Tahnee Welch.

Follow us @Spacedotcom , or on Facebook and Instagram .  

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Jeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.

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Den of Geek

Why Hasn’t Fantastic Voyage Been Remade Yet?

As we mourn the passing of ‘60s icon Raquel Welch, we ponder why her breakthrough sci-fi classic, Fantastic Voyage, has not received a full-on upgrade.

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When 1960s and ‘70s icon Raquel Welch died last week at the age of 82 , much of the media focus was on her (well-deserved) status as one of the most memorable and gorgeous sex symbols in movie history. A lot of the coverage, in fact, noted that the Chicago native’s substantial talents as an actress, singer, and dancer (she appeared in 30 films, numerous TV series, and hosted a handful of her own variety specials), were overshadowed by her status as one of the era’s premiere pinups.

While she may be best remembered for her turn as a skimpily-clad cavewoman in 1966’s One Million Years B.C. , her breakout role came earlier that year in the 20th Century Fox sci-fi spectacle Fantastic Voyage . The film was Welch’s fourth, but the first in which she had a lead role. She played Cora Peterson, one of five members of a medical team who are miniaturized, along with a small submarine, and injected into the body of a defecting Soviet scientist in order to remove a clot from his brain and save his life.

With only 60 minutes in which to work, since that is when the miniaturization process will subside and they’ll revert to full size, the team makes its way via the patient’s bloodstream through various marquee organs—the heart, the lungs, the ear—each with their own dangers and challenges. Meanwhile the crew’s security officer (Stephen Boyd) begins to suspect that someone on board is a saboteur, installed on the mission by the enemy government to kill him from the inside.

Welch doesn’t have a lot of dialogue in the movie, but for the era, she’s no wallflower either. Her character is a capable technician charged with assisting the surgeon who’s going to perform the procedure. Welch and the rest of the cast, which also includes reliable character actors like Boyd ( Ben-Hur ), Donald Pleasance ( Halloween ), and Edmond O’Brian ( Seven Days in May ), all acquit themselves reasonably well considering that they spend most of the movie either on wires or in the cramped submarine set.

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Like many movies of its time, Fantastic Voyage is best remembered for its audacious (if scientifically ludicrous) premise and its technical presentation of the inner workings of the human body, which were recreated through the use of large sets , animation, and rear projection. The 57-year-old movie looks shakier today in visual terms—although one has to wonder how far we’ve really come from matte images to, say, the Volume—but watching it begs the question: Why hasn’t this been remade?

A Sci-Fi Spectacle of Its Time

Directed by Richard Fleischer, whose other sci-fi outings included the Disney submarine classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and the seminal Charlton Heston overpopulation thriller Soylent Green (1973), Fantastic Voyage was conceived by writers Otto Clement and Jerome Bixby (the latter wrote the classic “It’s a Good Life” episode of The Twilight Zone and penned two of the original Star Trek ’s most famous segments , “Mirror, Mirror” and “Day of the Dove”).

The story was adapted by David Duncan ( The Time Machine ) and the final screenplay penned by Harry Kleiner (yes, they had multiple writers on films back then too!), with science fiction titan Isaac Asimov approached to write the novelization. Because Asimov penned the book at a fairly rapid pace, leading it to come out ahead of the movie due to the latter’s production delays, it was a common misconception for years that Asimov himself came up with the premise and story.

Many of the internal organs that the submarine (dubbed the Proteus) travels through were created as full-sized sets, in which a five-foot model of the craft would sail. A full-sized set of the Proteus interior was also built, along with other versions of various sizes. Fox had announced prior to production that Fantastic Voyage would be the most expensive sci-fi film made to date, and with a final budget of $6 million (about $56 million when adjusted for inflation), the picture certainly lived up to that billing.

Critical reception at the time was mostly kind, and Fantastic Voyage won Oscars for Best Special Effects and Best Art Direction . Looking at it now, it moves more slowly than modern VFX-driven blockbusters (as do most films made before, say, the mid-1990s), and as mentioned the effects have not aged all that well. But there is absolutely a sense of wonder and even awe still present in the film, the imagery is colorful, imaginative, and psychedelic, and its ticking-clock narrative still builds in suspense and tension.

With Hollywood always on the lookout for another IP to remake or reinvigorate, it stands to reason that Fantastic Voyage would be ripe for rediscovery. The basic story remains sound, from a genre point of view, and the capabilities of modern VFX houses would no doubt be able to bring the interior of the human body to life in ways that the makers of the 1966 movie could have only dreamed about.

So what’s the holdup? The truth is that Fantastic Voyage has been on the remake “to-do” list for years, but even some heavyweight genre filmmakers have been unable to get it to the starting gate, never mind across the finish line.

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Decades of Development Hell

Although there was a short-lived Saturday morning animated kids’ series that ran in 1968 on ABC, it wasn’t until 1984 that development of a new Fantastic Voyage movie , at the time as a sequel, began in earnest. Isaac Asimov was asked in 1984 to pen a sequel novel that could be then turned into a movie. His book, titled Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain , came out in 1987 and featured an entirely different story and characters, but the movie itself was never made.

The IP went dormant for more than a decade after that, until no less an auteur than James Cameron expressed an interest in remaking the original film. With his experience in working with water and sets both massive and cramped, as well as his ongoing exploration of the bleeding edge in visual effects, it’s enticing to imagine what Cameron could have done with this material.

Cameron did get as far as writing a screenplay, but after completing Titanic , his mind began to turn toward the development and creation of Avatar . He decided not to direct Fantastic Voyage , although he was willing to produce a film based on his script.

Next up was Roland Emmerich , the king of Z-movies disguised as blockbusters, who actually began pre-production on the movie in 2007. But Emmerich also rejected Cameron’s screenplay and commissioned a new one. We’ve had our issues with Cameron as a writer for sure, but this is still the guy who wrote Aliens and The Terminator , and the idea of the fellow who directed The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day: Resurgence rejecting Cameron’s script makes us both laugh and cry.

The new script got bogged down thanks to a Writers Guild strike, and Emmerich exited the project to make sure that 2012 could meet its title release year. Paul Greengrass ( The Bourne Ultimatum ) and Shawn Levy ( Free Guy ) both spent some time after that on Fantastic Voyage ’s increasingly not-so-fantastic development process, and both eventually dropped out with no results either.

Enter Guillermo del Toro . Everyone’s favorite genre filmmaker was announced to be in talks about the movie in 2016 , with David S. Goyer ( Batman Begins ) coming aboard to pen a new version of the script in collaboration with neuroscientist Justin Rhodes. While Greengrass and Levy were not especially exciting prospects, del Toro was easily the most intriguing since Cameron’s tenure on the film. While the latter would probably have brought a great deal of scientific rigor to a new Fantastic Voyage , we could easily see Del Toro turning the inside of the brain into a Gothic memory palace while making microbes and white blood cells into nightmarish Lovecraftian monsters. Alas, del Toro reportedly put the project on hold in mid-2017 to focus on completing The Shape of Water , intending to return to it in the spring of 2018.

That date came and went, and in the intervening five years, del Toro has developed, written, and directed both Nightmare Alley and his stop-motion adaptation of Pinocchio , released late last year. His next two projects are another stop-motion film , The Buried Giant , and an unnamed live-action effort, but is there any chance it could be Fantastic Voyage ?

It seems unlikely at this point. Following Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox in 2019, the fate of many projects in the Fox pipeline became murky or lost in development limbo, if not canceled outright. As far as we can ascertain, no one’s ever said a word about any of the scripts that were commissioned for the film, with the exception of David Goyer, who told The Scriptlab in 2015 that he and Justin Rhodes were striving to make it as “realistic” as possible.

Whether the remake ever gets made or not, Fantastic Voyage is still a landmark in the subgenre of movies about shrinking people, which stretches from 1936’s The Devil-Doll to the 1957 masterpiece The Incredible Shrinking Man , to comedies like 1989’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and 2015’s Ant-Man . Its influence on the latter is considerable, and aside from 1987’s Innerspace (which owes an enormous amount to Fantastic Voyage ) it remains the only live-action sci-fi movie to travel inside the human body.

But one thing that all those movies, and any potential remake, doesn’t have is the luminous presence of Raquel Welch, perhaps Fantastic Voyage ’s greatest visual effect.

Don Kaye | @donkaye

Don Kaye is an entertainment journalist by trade and geek by natural design. Born in New York City, currently ensconced in Los Angeles, his earliest childhood memory is…

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February 16, 2023 10:21 PM

• Jonathan Franklin

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Primary content.

Raquel Welch, a veteran actress who rose to fame as a sex symbol in the 1960s and 70s, died Wednesday in Los Angeles at the age of 82 after a brief illness. The news was confirmed to NPR by her son, Damon.

In a career spanning nearly six decades, Welch started in the 1960s with appearances on TV shows such as The Virginian , McHale's Navy and Bewitched. These appearances paved the way for back-to-back roles in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C. in 1966.

Throughout her career, Welch was a two-time Golden Globe nominee, winning Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for her role in the 1973's The Three Musketeers as Constance de Bonacieux, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Here's a look at some of her most notable roles:

1. One Million Years B.C. (1966)

The 1966 film, set during a fictional prehistoric age where cavemen and dinosaurs co-exist in the world, tells the story of prehistoric man Tumak as he is banished from his savage tribe. Welch only had a few lines, but her animal skin two-piece became part of pop culture history.

2. The Three Musketeers (1973)

An adaptation of the 1844 Alexandre Dumas novel, the 1973 film tells the story of swordsman D'Artagnan (played by Michael York), after he travels to Paris with the hope of joining the royal guard.

Welch plays the role of Constance Bonacieux, who is a dressmaker to the Queen, Anne of Austria.

3. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

This 1960s film follows scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) as he develops a way to shrink humans and other objects for brief periods. Benes is transported by the CIA to America but is unfortunately attacked en route.

To save Benes, a submarine is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his bloodstream with a small crew; as they have a limited time to get out before the miniaturization wears off.

4. 100 Rifles (1969)

Welch made film history in this 1969 Western, starring alongside African American actor and former professional football player Jim Brown. The movie, set in 1912 in Sonora, Mexico, follows native revolutionary Yaqui Joe (played by Burt Reynolds) as he robs a bank to buy guns for the Yaqui people.

However, he finds himself sought by the Mexican Army.

Welch — who played the role of Sarita — along with Brown sparked controversy for their sizzling interracial love scenes in the movie.

5. Myra Breckinridge (1970)

Based on Gore Vidal's 1968 satirical novel of the same name, Welch in this film played an aspiring actress who underwent a gender reassignment surgery in Europe, eventually traveling to Hollywood in search of fame and her late wealthy uncle's estate.

6. How to Be a Latin Lover (2017)

In her final film, the 2017 comedy features Welch as widowed billionaire Celeste Birch, who tries to fend off romantic advances from a rusty gigolo, Maximo (Eugenio Derbez), who's made a career of seducing rich older women.

After being dumped by his wealthy 80-year-old wife, Maximo plans to seduce Celeste as he hopes to live the high life once again.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org .

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Fantastic voyage.

Directed by Richard Fleischer

A Fantastic and Spectacular Voyage... Through the Human Body... Into the Brain.

In order to save an assassinated scientist, a submarine and its crew are shrunk to microscopic size and injected into his bloodstream.

Stephen Boyd Raquel Welch Edmond O'Brien Donald Pleasence Arthur O'Connell William Redfield Arthur Kennedy Jean Del Val Barry Coe Ken Scott Shelby Grant James Brolin Brendan Fitzgerald Brendon Boone James Doohan Kenneth MacDonald Christopher Riordan

Director Director

Richard Fleischer

Producer Producer

Writers writers.

David Duncan Harry Kleiner

Story Story

Jerome Bixby Otto Klement

Editor Editor

William B. Murphy

Cinematography Cinematography

Ernest Laszlo

Assistant Director Asst. Director

Ad Schaumer

Art Direction Art Direction

Jack Martin Smith Dale Hennesy

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Stuart A. Reiss Walter M. Scott

Special Effects Special Effects

Art Cruickshank Emil Kosa Jr. L.B. Abbott

Title Design Title Design

Richard Kuhn

Composer Composer

Leonard Rosenman

Sound Sound

David Dockendorf Bernard Freericks

Makeup Makeup

Hairstyling hairstyling.

Margaret Donovan

20th Century Fox

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English French

Releases by Date

24 aug 1966, 30 sep 1966, 14 oct 1966, 20 oct 1966, 28 nov 1966, 23 dec 1966, 13 jan 1967, 23 jan 1967, 05 sep 2000, 22 dec 2003, 12 jan 2005, 05 jun 2007, 08 oct 2013, 18 oct 2013, releases by country.

• Physical L Fox
• Theatrical U
• Theatrical 12
• Theatrical T
• Theatrical 15
• Physical 15 DVD release
• Physical 15 Blu-ray release
• Theatrical PG
• Physical PG Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea / Fantastic Voyage DVD Double Feature
• Physical PG DVD Release
• Physical PG Blu-Ray Release

100 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★★ 2

It's one of my all time favorite sci-fi films! I was hooked on the tv series Voyage to the bottom of the sea and then Fantastic Voyage came out with a submarine navigating the human body and I about went out of my ever livin mind!

I was glued to the screen, slack jawed and drooling! I'm describing my recent viewing not my experience as a kid! The film is absolutely mind boggling!

Sure it's kitschy, that's part of its charm, come on cut it some hard earned slack, it's nearly 50 years old and for its day it was quite a technical marvel! It was just as exciting today as the day it was released!

Review by Lou (rhymes with wow!) ★★★½

I really loved how well thought out this movie was, making the miniaturization of people , and the medical application of the miniaturization, almost seem scientifically plausible.

The opening credits were beautiful.

Raquel Welch was beautiful. 😍

I'm glad to have finally crossed Fantastic Voyage off my list of shame.

Review by russman ★★★ 6

Insane in the membrane

Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★½ 6

Richard Fleischer's "Fantastic Voyage" is a fun yet serious-toned slice of 1960s science fiction. Earnest where it could have been silly, and scientifically minded where it could have been overly far-fetched, the film is a neatly assembled, semi-plausible, and engaging adventure.

Starring Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, and Donald Pleasance, the film is built around the fantastic voyage of a team of scientists that is miniaturized and injected into a man's body in order the save his life. The story is split between the minuscule team, maneuvering through arteries and organs, and its handlers in a secret, underground, government complex. The story is told seriously and treated without any whimsy that could have turned the tale hokey. As the team is…

Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★ 6

If you've seen that episode of The Magic School Bus this isn't terribly different. It's 60's sci-fi, so there's a laser beam and pervasive fear of communism, but otherwise it's pretty much the same. A group of scientists enter the human body to fix it from the inside. The sets both inside and outside the body are absolutely magnificent in every sense of the word, and the special effects are obvious by today's standards but not without their unique charms. The screenplay is a bit simplistic which robs the movie of most of its tension ( apparently Isaac Asimov said it was full of plot holes), and too much of it is just actors staring at special effects, but for the…

Review by noir1946 ★★★★ 2

“The other side got to him.”

I saw Fantastic Voyage when it was released and enjoyed it with reservations. I watched it again many years later but don’t’ recall any reaction other than those same reservations. On this third viewing, having acquired many more layers of pulp in the interim, I enjoyed it more than ever, though those darn reservations keep lurking around.

What’s fun about Fantastic Voyage includes the outlandish premise. Our hero, Grant (Stephen Boyd), is summoned to this secret government facility in the middle of the night, yet dozens of employes are strolling around, an awful lot of folks to be trusted not to spill the beans to The National Enquirer . Grant learns what’s so secret and…

Review by Justin Decloux ★★★½

"Oh shit, did we forget the sub in the guy?"

[Man explodes]

Review by ᴬⁿᵗʰᵒⁿʸ ⛧ ★★★

One of my favorite opening credits of all time. 💉 

Review by Ben Hibburd ☘🏀 ★★★½ 17

It feels like an eternity since I last reviewed a classic Sci-Fi film on my account. I've been feeling a little lost these last couple of months. My interest in writing and this site have been waning whilst other hobbies such as reading and drawing have been taking precedent.

Anyway, I read Issac Asimov's novelisation of this film a few months ago and stumbled across this movie upon my bi-weekly trip to my local video store. So I thought it would be fitting to get back to my early roots of this account and review a schlocky 50's, although in this case 60's science fiction film.

I'm sure by now the gist of this story is well known in pop…

Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★½

Got deja vu when watching this, because shrinking is involved just like when I was watching Spies in Disguise that same afternoon...

Review by Tanner ★★★ 1

Well, no Ant-Man for me this weekend because my movie buddy got sick and I don't want to go without them. Yes, I'm still excited for it despite the reception. So I decided to to turn to a couple of alternatives for my shrinking entertainment needs.

A Cold War, not of nuclear arsenals but of a fantastic new technology — the ability to miniaturize matter but only for the duration of an hour. Dr. Jan Benes has perfected the technology, allowing for it to be used indefinitely. The only problem being that both sides know about it. When he defects to the U.S., an assassination attempt leaves him comatose and with a blood clot threatening his life. With the secrets…

Review by Brian Formo ★★½

The production design, the sheer look of Fantastic Voyage , is fantastic. And I don’t just mean the pillowy flutters of the ear canal. I’m actually probably more taken by the base camp, with its honeycomb shrinking floor, banking tube shoots full of liquid, and a giant red and blue Operation-styled mock-up of the body. This is the perfect movie to have on behind folks, playing silently during a party, because everything exciting here is in the background. The story foreground—of shrunken scientists racing against their own body clocks to save the head scientist who's in a coma—is a vinyl clad shrug. Because the infighting and sci-fi dialogue in the ear canal is pretty staid. The landscapes are livelier than the…

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Jamie foxx recalls mystery illness, being “gone for 20 days” during hospitalization, raquel welch dies: ‘fantastic voyage’, ‘one million years b.c.’ & ‘myra breckinridge’ star was 82.

By Erik Pedersen

Erik Pedersen

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Raquel Welch , the big-screen star of the 1960s and ’70s who gained fame in movies including Fantastic Voyage, One Million Years B.C., Myra Breckinridge and many others, died today after a brief illness. She was 82.

Her death was confirmed by her reps at Media 4 Management.

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Born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940, in Chicago, Welch’s family moved to San Diego when she was a toddler. She attended San Diego State on a theater arts scholarship and got her start as a local TV weathercaster before starting to land guest shots on such classics TV series as McHale’s Navy, Bewitched, The Virginian and others. Her breakout role came as Cora in the wild 1966 sci-fi pic Fantastic Voyage, also starring Stephen Boyd, Edmund O’Brien, Donald Pleasance and Arthur Kennedy. It followed the adventures of a group of people who are miniaturized along with a submarine and injected into the bloodstream of a nearly-assassinated scientist in an effort to save his life. But they only have an hour before they return to real size.

The film won Oscars for its visual effects and for Art Direction/Set Decoration and became a cult classic. It maintains a 91% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Welch then starred as a clan cavewoman in the 1966 British film One Million Years B.C., another wild tale set in an age when humans and dinosaurs existed together. A slightly censored version was released in the U.S., and the film became a TV staple in later years.

Welch as made history by doing the first interracial love scene in a major Hollywood movie — with Jim Brown in the 1969 western 100 Rifles . It also starred Burt Reynolds and Fernando Lamas.

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Firmly established as a movie star, Welch continued her big-screen career opposite some of the era’s biggest stars. She appeared with Burt Reynolds in the 1972 cop comedy Fuzz ; with Richard Burton in Bluebeard the same year; with James Coburn, Richard Benjamin and others in Herbert Ross’ The Last of Sheila, written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins; and opposite Richard Chamberlain, Oliver Reed and Michael York in 1973 The Three Musketeers.

That pic earned Welch a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical and spawned a 1974 sequel, The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge . She also starred with Bill Cosby and Harvey Keitel in the L.A.-set 1976 ambulance-crew romp Mother, Jugs & Speed.

Among her other films of the era was Kansas City Bomber , the 1972 drama set in then-popular world of roller derby, along with The Beloved (1971) and toplining the western Hannie Caulder with Robert Culp and Ernest Borgnine, also in 1971.

Welch never was shy to fight for herself and her place at the Hollywood table. In that context, she made a very different set of headlines in the 1980s when she sued MGM over being dumped from starring with Nick Nolte in Cannery Row. 

Set to play an empathetic prostitute in the David S. Ward-helmed movie based on the work of John Steinbeck, Welch was booted off the project by the studio over a contract violation. She insisted on having her hair and makeup done at her home before coming to set every day.  

MGM said no and replaced Welch with Debra Winger.  

After trying to make peace by taking another role and being rebuffed by the studio then run by David Begelman, Welch hit back and sued MGM for $24 million.  

Making headlines all over the world, Welch alleged in her suit that the studio had built the movie and its financing around her and then used the hair-and-makeup dispute as a way to get a younger actress in the hooker role.  

The matter dragged on through the courts and appeals, but Welch ultimately was awarded a $10 million verdict in 1987 — which, of course, generated a whole new set of headlines for her.  

Welch’s film career had ebbed by the late 1970s, and she began to do more TV work. She appeared in a couple of Season 2 Mork & Mindy episodes with Robin Williams in 1979 and continued to appear in telefilms throughout that decade and the 1980s.

Among her higher-profile roles of the era was the title character in The Legend of Walks Far Woman, the 1982 NBC telepic about a woman who kills her abusive husband. Another was in Right to Die, in which she toplined as a successful woman whose life is changed forever after her ALS diagnosis. The role earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Welch also played herself in the classic 1997 Seinfeld episode “The Summer of George.” It featured the actress mistakenly presenting a Tony Award to Michael Richards’ Kramer, with unexpected repercussions. The final episode of the all-timer series’ penultimate season also featured the classic “catfight” between Welch and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Elaine Benes.

Other 1990s TV guest roles included Evening Shade — reuniting with Reynolds — Sabrina the Teenage Witch , Lois & Clark and multiple episodes of Spin City and C.P.W. Her small-screen credits since then include a recurring role on the 2002 PBS series American Family, which starred Edward James Olmos and Sonia Braga, along with 8 Simple Rules, CSI: Miami, telefilm House of Versace , the short-lived CBS sitcom Welcome to the Captain and the Canadian comedy Date My Dad.

Since the 1960s and throughout her career, Welch appeared on scores of TV talk, game and awards shows. She hosted Saturday Night Live during its first season in 1976, was a presenter at multiple Academy Awards and Tony Awards ceremonies, appeared on Bob Hope comedy specials and toplined her own specials in 1970, 1974 and 1980. Her 1970 CBS special Raquel! showcased Welch’s comedy, dancing and singing skills, earning a 51% share.

She also was a guest on Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and talk or variety shows hosted by Oprah Winfrey, Craig Ferguson, Bonnie Hunt, Dick Cavett, Mike Douglas, Joey Bishop, Dean Martin, Merv Griffin and others.

Welch also appeared twice on Broadway. The first time in 1981, when she filled in for a vacationing Lauren Bacall in Woman of the Year . In 1997, she played the lead role of Victoria Grant in Victor/Victoria , replacing original star Julie Andrews.

Despite her Golden Globes win and nom, Welch never earned an Oscar or Emmy nomination during her long career. But other accolades include an ALMA Award in 2001, a Western Heritage Award for The Legend of Walks Far Woman and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996.

Welch is survived by her son, Damon Welch, and daughter, Tahnee Welch.  

Dominic Patten contributed to this report.

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