"I COULDN'T stand that my husband was being unfaithful. I am Raquel Welch--understand?"
That was Miss Welch, way back when she had more illusions about men and her own image. She's much happier now. She's single.
WORD HAS wriggled out of LA that Raquel has met with the creators of TV's big hit "Modern Family." She is being wooed to make a few appearances as Sofia Vergara's mother. Sofia's hot, sexy mother, needless to say. Raquel is open to the idea, especially as it would offer her juicy
comic opportunities--as "Gloria Delgado's" mama, her character would probably be just as high-octane as the daughter. Cool as a cucumber one minute, flying off the handle the next.
The producers of "Modern Family" are said to be "ga-ga" over the possibility of Raquel appearing. Especially after her recent stint on "CSI: Miami," where she blotted out every other character with her ageless charisma. (Raquel has reversed the usual stellar process. She looks more like a movie star now than she did back in the old "Myra Breckenridge"/"Kansas City Bomber" days.)
Oh yes, Sofia Vergara idolizes Welch. That helps.
- SPEAKING OF Sofia, I caught her the other night with Jimmy Fallon. She was gorgeous and amusing as usual. I was particularly taken by her tale of being "so skinny" as a girl that her family worried. She was not living up to the standards of voluptuous Colombian women. She admitted at one point she would wear two pairs of jeans, to give the impression of a more bountiful booty. "Then, it all worked out, suddenly."
- NATALIE PORTMAN won the Oscar for going totally out of her mind in "Black Swan." Then she had a baby and dropped a few hints that maybe she would take some time off. She has been working since she was a child, for one thing. But she went ahead and appeared in "Thor," is now filming "Lawless" and has been announced for "Knight of Cups" and "Thor 2." I think retirement thoughts have been retired.
Now we hear that Sofia Coppola, who directed Miss Portman in those TV ads for Dior's "Cherie" fragrance, wants to make a movie with Portman for Paramount. Not just any movie. For years the idea of a remake of Roger Vadim's sci-fi camp-fest "Barbarella," has been batted
around. This was Jane Fonda's spectacular au revoir to her European sex-kitten years.
Barbarella was originally a French avant garde comic book heroine. Paramount Pictures wants to jump into the comic book genre that has worked so well for Warner Bros. and Disney/Marvel. Coppola, turned on to the Barbarella character by French director Michel Gondry, thinks it is time for a "Barbarella" re-boot. And she thinks Portman is just the girl to go flying into outer space, seducing the galaxies. (Jane's characterization was rather innocent,
despite the famous weightless striptease. Portman might be a less naïve Barbarella.)
Natalie already has sci-fi credit for her appearances in the "Star Wars" films, and of course as Thor's love interest.
- FROM OUR friend, press rep for athletes and '60s nostalgia historian, Hal Lifson, in LA. Hal ran into his friend Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees. Dolenz says that just before the untimely passing of Davy Jones, all four of the original group were contemplating a reunion.Yes, even the reclusive (and very rich) Mike Nesmith. It was Nesmith who suffered the most from the band being pigeonholed as a bubblegum pop group who were not allowed to write their own music or play their own instruments. Mike had that punch-a-hole-in-the-wall kind of temper. He wasn't polite to music industry execs--such delicate creatures.
Dolenz still wants to go on, however. And he told Hal he might try to persuade Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits fame, to stand in for Davy, or just join the remaining Monkees onstage for a '60s-themed jam fest. The other Monkees--Nesmith and Peter Tork, think nobody could or
should "replace" Davy, but that Noone might pay tribute to Davy, in a special number.
- MADONNA IS rehearsing her "MDNA" concert like a maniac. She is promising concerned friends that yes, she is taking care of herself and no, she is not losing too muchweight. Good luck on that. From what I've heard, no Madonna show in recent times has featured such incredible, non-stop dancing. An insider says: "There were moments when I realized I had stopped breathing! And this is just rehearsals."