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Becoming Raquel
After a 40-year career as a sex symbol, Raquel Welch has found her true identity.
She believes the process of self examination has now led to a new turn in her career. Out of the blue, Academy Award-nominated director Gregory Nava (El Norte, Mi Familia and Selena) called to tap her for the role of Aunt Nora in his PBS series American Family, about a Mexican-American family in East Los Angeles. When he cast her in the series, alongside Edward James Olmos and Sonia Braga, it was only her third screen credit as a Latina. She played a Mexican part in the 1968 Bandolero and a Mexican Yaqui Indian in the 1969 film 100 Rifles. namesake until she was in her 30s and her grandmother was very old.
She found sage advice in the words of Moctesuma Esparza, a film producer and friend. Esparza, who traces his roots to the Mechica Indians of Mexico, had traveled to Bolivia and he urged Welch to do the same. | |
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