Raquel Welch

Raquel Welch is glimpsed in two lunches recorded by Andy Warhol, rather than presented through a sustained biographical portrait. The encounters, a rescheduled one-on-one appointment in 1980 and a crowded office lunch in 1981, show how the diary frames her through punctuality, social standing, intellectual conversation, and a pointed preference for established culture over the young New Wave scene.

The 1980 Lunch

On September 22, 1980, Raquel Welch’s secretary called to move a lunch appointment from 1:30 to 1:00. Andy stayed uptown in response and walked to Quo Vadis. The change did not produce an earlier meeting: Raquel arrived at 1:30, half an hour later than the revised time. The small sequence—the secretary’s call, Andy’s adjustment, and the late arrival—gives this first appearance its shape, while the diary offers no explanation for her lateness.

Andy’s account then shifts from the logistics to his impression of Raquel. He noted that she looked great for forty and described her as sweet, adding that she had come down a little in the world. Those judgments belong to the diary’s compressed, personal view of the lunch, not to an independent account of Raquel’s character or career. They place her appearance and perceived social position side by side: she remains striking in Andy’s estimation, even as he registers a change in her standing. He also noted that her new husband was a French film producer, but gave neither the husband’s name nor further details about the marriage.

A Rescheduled, Crowded Meeting

The next recorded lunch took place on March 18, 1981, after Raquel had canceled an appointment several weeks earlier. The new arrangement differed sharply from the original one. At first, she had requested that absolutely nobody else be present; by the time the lunch happened, about twenty people were expected, and she brought her husband. The diary does not say why the original condition changed. It does make the alteration conspicuous: an intended private meeting became a sizeable office gathering.

Andy characterized the lunch as strange because Raquel and her husband wanted to talk intellectually. He responded by giving them copies of his and Pat Hackett’s books, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism. The books serve as the concrete center of this exchange: rather than recounting a discussion topic by topic, the entry records Andy presenting his own writing as the response to his guests’ interest in intellectual conversation. Raquel then sat on the couch while the other guests pretended not to look at her. Her presence was thus both a focus of attention and something the room collectively acted as if it were not watching.

Art, the “Old Wave,” and the Office Setting

The account also records that Raquel was interested in art, and that she and her husband were given a tour. This detail extends the meeting beyond the books and the formal lunch: the office became a place where celebrity guests could be shown the work and surroundings, while the diary captures Raquel as an engaged visitor rather than only as the object of others’ attention.

Susan Blond asked whether Raquel would like to go to the New Wave clubs. Raquel declined, saying, “No, I’m trying to get the Old Wave back, because the Old Wave represents quality, not these young kids running around doing things.” The statement is the clearest expression of her outlook in the record. It contrasts her appeal to quality and the “Old Wave” with the younger people associated with the New Wave clubs. Andy’s incredulous response registers the comment as surprising; the entry also notes that Raquel said she had given a lecture at UCLA. It does not identify the lecture’s subject, so the reference remains a brief indication of another public, intellectual role rather than a developed account of her work.

The Diary’s Limited Portrait

The two lunches produce a compact portrait through contrast rather than continuity. In 1980, the entry emphasizes a changed appointment time, a late arrival, and Andy’s assessment of Raquel’s appearance and standing. In 1981, the focus moves to a canceled and rescheduled meeting, the unexpected scale of the gathering, her husband’s presence, books, an art tour, and her rejection of the New Wave invitation. The difference in setting matters: the first encounter is described as a lunch appointment, while the second unfolds amid an office group of about twenty.

These scenes are also bounded by the diary’s method. Andy recounted his daily activities during weekday calls with Pat Hackett, and the published diary was edited down from a much larger record, with days, passages, and names omitted. The two entries therefore establish particular moments and Andy’s reactions, not a comprehensive account of Raquel’s private life or views. Within that limited frame, her appearances are memorable because she does not simply occupy the role of a glamorous guest: she arrives late to one lunch, seeks intellectual conversation at another, takes an interest in art, and voices a preference for older standards of quality over the young scene around her.