Rant #3,075: Sexy, Sexy. Sexy

We lost another big star yesterday.

Raquel Welch, the last of the pure sex symbols, passed away at age 82 after what was termed a short illness.

I had to laugh yesterday when I went through the announcements of her demise, and on one news show, the reporter actually said, “She was the first sex symbol.”

I kid you not, he actually said that.

I don’t know how old this guy was, but you can reach way back to Mae West and through many others, including Marilyn Monroe—the ultimate sex symbol—but Welch was not the first sex symbol, as this fool said, but she was actually the last one.

To me, the term “sex symbol” is defined as a Hollywood personality who gives off an air of sexuality without ever giving into it fully.

What I mean by that is that many of today’s actresses go whole hog on their own sexuality seemingly on a daily basis—look at Elizabeth Hurley, who poses in every form imaginable and is ubiquitous on social media showing off her body every which way, seemingly at a whim.

And then you have many other actresses, who strip down to nothing, put their photos up on the Internet, and tell all of us even though they are naked as the day they were born, we shouldn’t look, it is their way of showing their personal independence.

And they get away with this nonsense because in the MeToo era, they can.

Welch, like Monroe, exuded sensuality and sexuality, but never really shoved it in our faces like the current crop of actresses that are so preoccupied with their bodies.

Welch and Monroe really wanted to be taken seriously as actresses, and while I don’t think either one really got what they wanted, they did it by being themselves and being glamorous at the same time.

Welch was really the actual remnant of the fallout of the blonde wave of the 1950s, when Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren and dozens of other bosomy blondes became the rage in Hollywood.

But Welch obviously was quite different than those blondes, in both her look and her background.

When diversity was just a word, and not a movement as it is today, Welch was the polar opposite of these bleach blondes.

She was of Bolivian descent—although in truth, that was hidden for quite a long time--and she was a brunette.

She was statuesque and buxom and had all the essentials to be that era’s sex symbol, but the path to that was not an easy one.

She was just another tall actress, but then her first husband suggested some “cosmetic” changes, and well, the rest is history.

Welch first jumped into television, with guest roles on shows like “Bewitched,” and he made a few appearances in some horrible movies of the time—something she did really for the rest of her career.

But when she made “One Million Years B.C.,” even though it was another horrible movie, she forever solidified herself as our reigning sex symbol.

Running around in a flimsy loincloth and barely covered top, she took over the then-vacant sex symbol mantel, and ran with it for the rest of her life.

And the poster of her gallivanting around like this adorned millions of young boys’ bedroom walls, predating the Farah Fawcett poster by several years.

If you look at her movie career, she made only one really good movie, and that was “Fantastic Voyage,” where her sexuality was totally downplayed and the then-revolutionary special effects were on maximum display as opposed to her assets.

But after “One Million Years B.C., she became a ubiquitous 1960s and 1970s personality, seemingly showing up at every red carpet event in gowns that showed nearly everything, but not everything, if you know what I mean.

Although she was in Playboy Magazine many times, her appearances were never fully unclothed, which really solidified herself as a true sex symbol, again, just showing enough to get people interested, but never showing it all.

Later in her career, she did win some acclaim as an actress, winning a Golden Globe for her appearance in “The Three Musketeers,” and even later in her career, she won several awards for her Hispanic heritage.

But like Marilyn Monroe, I do think her goal to be thought of as an actress rather than as a sex symbol was never fulfilled, and she went to her grave as our last and final sex symbol.

Here is what I had to say, in edited form, about Raquel Welch back in Rant #798, September 5 2012:

“I have never been a big fan of hers, but she is what she is--the last real, old fashioned, honest to goodness sex symbol that Hollywood produced.

She made one good movie--"Fantastic Voyage"--where her sexiness was downplayed.

And she made numerous horrid films--including "Kansas City Bomber"--where her sexiness was completely overplayed.

She was no Marilyn Monroe, not even a Jayne Mansfield.

But in the 1960s and early 1970s, the name "Raquel" almost became a code word for sex.

Heck, even Russ Meyer had a film named "Harry, Cherry and Raquel."

So, her legacy is intact.”

R.I.P.