Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 22, 1993 TAG: 9305220290
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACKIE HYMAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"The glamour gig is harder to do than it looks," the actress says with a sigh, gamely proceeding with an interview while battling pain after a trip to the dentist.
In the ABC movie, which airs Sunday (at 9 p.m. on WSET-Channel 13), Welch plays Paula Eastman, an actress who must overcome alcoholism to save her career - and who finds love along the way.
Jack Scalia co-stars in the film, based on a story by the megaselling novelist Judith Krantz.
After initial difficulty with the role, Welch said, "Basically, I just played myself. I'm no Meryl Streep. I'm just playing Raquel. I'm not going to get certain parts and maybe I shouldn't. But some parts I do better than anybody."
She said she had reservations at first because Paula Eastman's fictional life was so much like hers in some ways, and so different in others.
"I am all of those things. I am a mother," said Welch, whose daughter Tahnee starred in "Cocoon" and whose son Damon is launching an acting career. "And I am an actress with a high profile and I do understand how difficult it is to have relationships with men.
"I just wasn't sure that I could intertwine the parts that aren't."
Unlike Paula Eastman, she explained, she rarely drinks.
"Then I thought, I'm confusing myself with the part," she said. "When I made my peace with that, I found that I enjoyed playing her."
"In romance, there's always an aura that's hard to show," said Welch. "You have to play your feminine wiles and then [as Paula Eastman] you have to be the mother and then you have to be the actress and then you have to be the alcoholic."
She contrasted the experience to playing a victim of Lou Gehrig's disease in an earlier television movie.
"In `Right to Die,' I have nothing else to do than concentrate on that cutting-edge reality," Welch said. "But in a romance . . . if all I had to do was die, it would be a lot less energetic."
Looking back over her career, Welch wishes she'd accepted some challenging roles that she didn't feel comfortable with at the time.
"I wish I would have accepted a role that [the late] Bob Fosse offered me years ago to play Lenny Bruce's wife in `Lenny,' " she said. "I didn't know how to read scripts.
"When you're an actress, you're trying to put yourself in, you're trying to connect. I wouldn't realize that there were possibilities. Now I know more. Now I'm in a place where I'm using my head and saying, `I've graduated, and now would you let me do something interesting?' "
One of the interesting things Welch would like to do is to direct.
"I don't feel the urge that I did earlier in my life to put myself out there," she said. "I'm much more drawn to being behind the camera, directing and producing."
She knows, however, that some people won't take her seriously because of her glamorous image.
"I'm not Penny Marshall or Barbra Streisand," she said. "They'll say, `Raquel Welch wants to direct? Give me a break.' "
Welch began her career with sexy roles in such films as "Fantastic Voyage," "The Three Musketeers" and "Bedazzled."
"I think that I'm out of synch with my time because I was from the `50s era when you had people like Marilyn Monroe who sang and performed light comedy," Welch said. "People were not into making entertainment films in the late `60s when I came along. They were into angst."
In addition to acting, Welch is a singer and dancer. She surprised many critics - and won positive reviews - when she starred in the musical "Woman of the Year" on Broadway.
She has released several exercise videos and written a book, "The Raquel Welch Total Beauty and Fitness Program."
Welch said she became interested in fitness because of back problems she suffered as a dancer and because of a desire to perform her own stunts in films.
She also takes a serious interest in political affairs and has spoken out on issues including drug abuse and human rights. She is a member of the National Council of the American Foundation for AIDS research.
by CNB