Ever since she burst into Hollywood with roles in campy adventure films like Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C., Raquel Welch was known more for her status as a sex symbol than for her acting abilities. But Welch, who died Wednesday at 82, could be a deft and compelling performer — particularly when she got to show off her comedic chops, as she did in an unforgettable episode of Seinfeld.
The massively popular sitcom's season 8 finale was titled "The Summer of George," but it was Welch who stole the show playing an exaggerated version of herself. After some typically Seinfeldian machinations, the episode found Kramer (Michael Richards) being forced to fire a pugnacious Welch from her lead role in the (fictional) Tony-winning musical Scarsdale Surprise. The reason? She wouldn't move her arms while tap-dancing in the show's musical numbers.
That led to a hilarious dressing room scene in which a wholly unqualified Kramer witnessed Welch threaten to feed someone's genitals to a wolf (a child, no less!) and then experienced her wrath firsthand.
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The K-man wasn't the only one who got on Welch's bad side: Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) took a thrashing from her after a chance misunderstanding on the street, which some nearby policemen dismissed as "a catfight."
"The woman is a menace," Kramer later lamented.
By delivering a pitch-perfect performance as a fire-breathing prima donna, Welch also poked fun at her reputation (fairly earned or not) for being difficult to work with.
In a 2012 interview with Men's Health, she was asked about playing an "evil, alternate universe Raquel Welch."
"That was so much fun," she recalled. "But I thought of her more as a diva than a villain." Welch added, "It can be cathartic to play such a horrible ball breaker. But it's also exhausting. I mean, I wouldn't want to do it every day."
Fortunately, once was all she needed.
Watch a clip of Welch in "The Summer of George" above.
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