Raquel Welch spills the tea on Myra Breckinridge and Mae West

That interviewer is so rubbish!

Ha. I always had the feeling Mae West was a man.

I think someone recently wrote a book about Mae West being a transvestite. Or it might have been about Elizabeth I. Either way, there have been rumors about both of those bitches having dicks for years.

The story in Hollywood is that the real Mae died and her effeminate gay brother stepped in and became her. They say that explains how Mae's appearance changed so drastically from her early days compared to her later years.

all i know is we are led to believe ole mae screwed literally countless drop dead gorgeous musclebound studs, bodybuilder, slabs of beefcakes for DECADES! she lived the live we all fantasize about until her last breath!...what a power trip that even at her ancient age she could and did? have incredible looking built young men young enough to literally be her grandsons! and here they thought they could tell everyone "yeah, i screwed mae west!" when the reality is 1) yeah, how old was she and how did she look? and 2) uh, newsflash stud: she "had" you!....

Raquel is delightful in the OP YouTube video. She's a star, my dear.

Who is the interviewer? It sounds and looks like Simon Doonan but I think Raquel called him Josh.

I realize Raquel is all pasted and painted and wigged and strung together with elastic here but she does look remarkable for 70-something. Close to the age Mae was when they shot Myra Breckenridge.

Raquel looks fab for 74.

I love how Raquel shits all over his introduction.

I love how Raquel shits all over his introduction.

EVERYONE who has EVER worked with Raquel Welch HATES her.

The first guy is another of those unbearable nobodies who desperately need applause when they gives their name. When are they going to get it? Nobody cares about them. Nobody wants to know who they are or why they're up there. Bring on the star and the dish!

The interview itself moved so slowly I couldn't keep watching. But Raquel looks great for whatever her age is.

R11, That's very true. Her fellow "The Last of Sheila" cast members despised her.

R12, then you missed the best part towards the end where Raquel tells the story about Mae stealing her costume.

Only Mae is allowed to wear non-colors!

Raquel is a classy dame and a total professional. Her bad reputation has been greatly inflated.

So not true, R11!

There has been some talk of remaking Myra Breckinridge. Of course, Raquel would be cast in the Mae West part, so it would be funny if she didn't get along with her younger co-star cast in the lead role.

In all candor, r15, I have yet to hear a single story of Raquel being "classy", or a "professional", and I know people who've worked with her. Where can you find them?

Though I've never heard very nice things about Raquel and have always thought she was an incredibly shallow and lazy actress (just compare her non-performance in The Last of Sheila with Joan Hackett's and Dyan Cannon's and she was practically playing herself!), she does come off very gracious and even witty in this recent interview. Perhaps it's just practice after years of being asked the same questions and she's got her routine down pat?

But she also does look fabulous! Amazing how much better a mature woman can look with some poundage on them (in all the right places, of course).

R18 James Coco and Oliver Reed both said that Raquel was very professional when it came to getting the job done. Oliver even compared Raquel to Glenda Jackson in terms of professionalism . Coco said she was great to get along with and not the diva that he was told she would be prior to filming.

Burt Reynolds and Raquel feuded when they worked together, but were eventually able to patch things up. Burt later remarked that she was a very classy woman in terms of how she buried the hatchet, and that the feud was initiated more on his end.

Now, Farrah Fawcett trashed Raquel in the press a lot after she made it big. Raquel never badmouthed Farrah. However, Sally Field and Ali MacGraw, who were good friends of Raquel's, did. Sally even took shots at Farrah's sex appeal. Ali said that Farrah was nothing more than a Flavor of the month who didn't have a hit movie to her credit.

Tatum O Neal came between Raquel and Cher when they were on Cher's variety show. Tatum overheard Raquel complaining about having to cover up and went and told Cher. Tatum said Raquel hated her for the rest of the shoot.

Raquel did let Cindy Adams have it on live television years back, saying she looked like a lizard before storming off the set. Apparently, Cindy was prying into her personal life and Welch had enough.

R11 Exactly. Who is Raquel to talk about anyone? There are several people that have worked with her that said SHE was awful to work with. Even the mellow Farrah Fawcett said during an interview with Howard Stern that she didn't like working with her.

Faye Dunaway even said Raquel was very professional to work with on the set of Three Musketeers. Raquel and her have always complimented each in the press other over the years.

[quote]Even the mellow Farrah Fawcett

The same Farrah who appeared fucked out of her mind on Letterman?

#22, they're the same breed: narcissistic sociopaths with limited talent.

Looks aside, I always thought Raquel had a lovely, soothing, sexy speaking voice.

R24 Bingo!

R5, please stop your lazy illiteracy. Gush and sputter and spurt if you must, but for fuck's sake start using capital letters and stop acting as if we're all supposed to be impressed with chimp-thumb typing.

Raquel & Farrah= the original Crystal Conners & Nomi Malone.

Oh Please [R27]

I'm trying to think of when Raquel and Farrah worked together.

Myra Breckinridge, R30. Farrah has a small part.

Best friends forever.

I know some people who worked with her on Kansas City Bomber. Maybe because she was so scared of the skating (she broke her arm training), she was very quiet, shy and professional. Roller Derby Queen from Philadelphia, Judy Arnold, did all her stunt skating and said Raquel seemed very unhappy. Jeanne Cooper said she was great to work with in the movie.

Mae West was always mean to other actresses, and she go after anybody who dared imitate her.

The most famous example was at a party at Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's home. Hello, Dolly! had just come out and Barbra Streisand was there, along with Mae. Barbra was a huge Mae West fan, so she went up to Mae to introduce herself. Mae said, "I know who you are, and I didn't appreciate you imitating me in that movie! Get your own persona and stop trying to steal mine!" Barbra was visibly shaken by the encounter and walked off to tell her friends what had just happened. Her friends explained to her that Mae was that way with everybody, and not to let it bother her.

Mae also went after Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Bette Midler.

Raquel Welch looks fantastic for her age ,but she is so on and very posy. I have heard Raquel Welch and Cloris Leachman were two of the most hated people in Hollywood. My brother knew someone many years ago who knew Raquel Welch's daughter. The guy told my brother her daughter was extremely nice and she would get embarrassed by her mother's bad behavior. I got the strong vibe watching OP's video when Raquel stated she got the impression that Mae was really a man by her hand, that Raquel's bitchiness was coming out.

[quote]Raquel Welch looks fantastic for her age ,but she is so on and very posy.

I think she's great in that interview. She's an old time star and seems very intent on giving the audience its money's worth, but Simon Doonan just ruins things.

R12: agreed.

Thank you, r27

If I am in the right mood, I actually like Hello Dolly and Barbara was fantastic in the songs, but I cringed every time when her Dolly went into Mae West mode. Streisand is capable of good comedic acting but those Mae West moments were awkward and really not right for the character. That said, that does not give Mae the right to be rude.

So...if Mae West was a man, how did she have such a big, beautiful bust in the 1930s...? Did breast implants exist back then?

Boob-enhancing surgery didn't exist in the 1930s, silicon injections came in around 1960.

The only boob enhancers they had during Mae's heyday were padding, corsetry, and retouching.

[quote]I have heard Raquel Welch and Cloris Leachman were two of the most hated people in Hollywood.

I have hard time believing that about Cloris-- if she were so hated, why does she get so much work?

Has any men, famous or not famous men, ever admitted, on record, that he had sex with Mae?!?

I want to hear MORE "Myra Breckinridge" horror stories!

Leachman was more than hated, she was reviled. She said that fat people make the world ugly so they should be rounded up into fat camps and made to diet (she's probably a DL poster). James Coco who got along with everyone (including Joan Crawford and Raquel Welch) said she was the only performer he really hated. He said she was just as terrible as he had been warned. On the old Joan Rivers show, Joan said he worked with so many difficult stars and named Raquel to which he quickly interjected "She was NOT difficult."

As for Mae West, there was an old rumor that a famous female celebrity would die and shock the world when it was revealed that she was really a he. The three were West, Garbo and Katherine Hepburn. All dead, no revelations.

[quote] She said that fat people make the world ugly so they should be rounded up into fat camps and made to diet

And then there were those times when she was [italic]really[/italic] mean.

Re Cloris Leachman: Well, perhaps she got her, "God will punish" when her son committed suicide.

From what is known of Mae West in her later years (1950s onwards), I find it unbelievable that she was at a party with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Barbra Streisand. Or maybe I'm just surprised I've never heard that story before.

I guess Hello Dolly! was made he same years as Myra Breckenridge, so perhaps Mae was making the rounds.

Raquel is very clever with her wig style. The oversized silhouette of it really balances the rest of her voluptuous figure. If you watch the interview and imagine her without the wig, you'll see exactly what I mean.

Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has.

I've always gotten the impression that Cloris Leachman was more of a pain-in-the-ass / weirdo than an outright bitch.

The old lady in Dolores Claibourne said that, r49.

That's what I've always heard, R50 –- that Cloris can be incredibly annoying but it's not in a bitchy way. Just a lot of "look at me, I'm an actor!" shtick.

[quote]The old lady in Dolores Claibourne said that

Thanks r51. I love Judy Parfitt. I can't believe I forgot it was Judy.

Raquel is old enough now to play Letitia van Allen in a remake.

Letitia Van Allen was in her 40s in the novel, which made it so bizarre that Mae was nearly 80.

[quote]Letitia Van Allen was in her 40s in the novel, which made it so bizarre that Mae was nearly 80

And Raquel pointed that out in several interviews she did at the time. No wonder Mae was mad at her.

R40

Marilyn Monroe was the 'one' sexy movie star who Mae West didn't go after ! Mae actually praised her which was a first & only.

What a terrible interview and what a cunt Simon Doonan is. He comes out looking like The Mummy's Ghost and says to Raquel, who looks fabulous, "When I was a teeny-weeny little pre-teen I saw you on TV..."

Raquel should have watched the movie before discussing it. She couldn't even remember the name of Mae's character.

Young Tom Selleck shows up at 1:21

And Mae West took credit for "discovering" Tom Selleck, when he finally hit it big. Wouldn't shut up about it, in fact.

R60

She did the same thing to Cary Grant which ticked him off but he was usually the gentleman and said nothing. He'd already made 8 films (though none really worthwhile) when Mae saw him on the Paramount lot and said "I want him in my next film !!"

Once Cary starting getting noticed, Mae took credit.

Well, if Mae cast Cary in his first NOTABLE role, she should take credit.

Mae sued Jayne Mansfield when Mickey Hargitay fell in love with her. Mae was under the delusion that Mickey was in love with her, even though she was like 30 years older than him. Mae used to sue everybody.

She discovered Timothy Dalton, as well, pre James Bond.

R64, I assume that still is from "Sextette" (1978), Mae's last film.

FYI Timothy Dalton had been working since his first film role in "A Lion In Winter", which had been made ten years earlier, so Mae can't take any credit for his career. Indeed, she's lucky she didn't kill it.

The rumor that Mae was a man was the jumping-off point for a very, very strange movie called "Dinah East" that came out the same year as "Myra Breckinridge." By today's standards, "Miss East" clearly is a drag queen, but maybe that was a shock in 1970.

The trailer even hinted at the controversy: "The story of a movie star that could be... TOMORROW'S HEADLINES!"

I think that I've told this one here before but there's a funny story about the filming of the dreadful SEXTETTE.

Mae was losing her senses by the time this mess was being made. Since her hearing wasn't what is was in 1932, they had to feed her (her) lines through a hearing aid type device. Unfortunately theirs was the same frequency as the Culver City Police Dept so when during another scene loaded with sexual innuendo an assistant was reading into the mike Mae's next line it was crossed with the police department's. Her co-star looked at her with bewilderment when Mae intoned, "burglary in progress at 6th and Sycamore Streets."

Damn that mae west was fugly!

R68, She was an inspiration!

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

George Barris, photographer who took the 1962 photos of Marilyn Monroe on the beach at Malibu wearing a bikini and then a Mexican sweater said that while taking the photos of Marilyn he saw on older woman wearing a large straw hat watching them and realised it was Mae West,

R70, yes she does look like Madonna there. But at least show a contrasting pic of Miss Vickers in her prime to allow her some dignity from her mummification.

I wonder what her pussy looks like.

[quote]I'm trying to think of when Raquel and Farrah worked together.

Nice work if you an get it....

[quote]Damn that mae west was fugly!

How do you know? With the make up troweled on, the fake hair and teeth, nobody knew what she actually looked like.

r74 is beautiful. :)

Rex Reed doesn't talk about the movie but he and Mae West were the two perfect bits of casting, even though both are terrible in the movie.

R11 true. My friend's first job was working for her manager and RW was apparently a total bitch.

Mae West and Bette Davis. They had never met one another, so in the early 70s a dinner party was arranged. One of their friends who was also at the party secretly tape recorded their conversation, and Davis was obviously half in the bag.

More Bette and Mae, they apparently met twice. Bette looks hammered here.

[quote]Rex Reed doesn't talk about the movie but he and Mae West were the two perfect bits of casting, even though both are terrible in the movie.

I saw him talk about it on a panel once. He said whatever differences the cast had among themselves (Raquel v. Mae) being the big one, it all paled next to the universal loathing they had for director Michael Sarne.

In the70's "Myra Myra Breckinridge" was paired with "Beneath The Valley Of The Dolls" One starring critic Rex Reed and one written by critic Roger Ebert. Both major flops but would go on to cult status on home video.

I remember finally getting to find a copy of this film at the video rental section of an art house movie theater when I was 13, albeit the pan-and-scan Magnetic Video copy, but that was the only one that ever was until the DVD came out. After I saw it, I thought, "what the fuck did I just watch?" Then after I read the book, I got a copy of a widescreen version from someone who taped it off Fox Movie Channel, and it started making somewhat more sense. But that WTF feeling was still there. Some of the supporting cast was actually pretty good for what they were being asked to do, and Roger Herren was hot (WEHT?), but the use of old movie clips as a way of commenting on the story kind of worked, but it didn't do enough to patch up the holes in the script. IIRC, the "special edition" on DVD doesn't add much except for clumsily un-bleeping the word "motherfuckers" and draining the color from Rex Reed's scenes. I showed it to an ex-roommate who had just gotten out of a long-distance relationship with an Asian trans woman who was awful to him, and he didn't know what to make of it!

A lot of the criticism had less to do with the lack of dramatic cohesion, as one source put it, and more to do with the subject matter and the shock that the same studio famous for its high-minded middlebrow literary adaptations was now making X-rated movies. And I'm sure a lot of the old homophobe guard in Hollywood didn't appreciate being called out the way they are in the film. And 20th Century-Fox certainly didn't need any more bad publicity after all their profits from [italic]The Sound of Music[/italic] dried up.

Hollywood dealt Gore Vidal a bad hand again with [italic]Caligula[/italic], where Bob Guccione basically did the same thing to his screenplay. All that footage and they've never been able to edit it into a cohesive film? Feh, breeders!

Sissyfied males should never be allowed to appear on camera.

Is that interviewer really British? He sounds more like some affected queen poorly doing a Brit accent.

There would be no Bette Midler without Mae West.

R79, do you have a link to the Mae/Bette tape recording? Would love to hear that conversation.

Its nice to see these various photos of Mae out and about with Bette Davis, Beverly Sills and others. I had just assumed that in her elder years she's become a recluse.

But did she ever do any filmed interviews? And I mean, ever? Not necessarily in her elder years.

Here's one.

Thanks for posting the Mae interview r89.

Mae is sweet but not terribly engaging in it. Perhaps age had just really subdued her by then or maybe Dick was too intimidated to ask really probing questions. The energy level here is nowhere near his interviews with Hepburn, Davis or Swanson.

It was Michael Sarne who ruined "Myra Breckinridge." He so botched the job, he never worked in Hollywood again.

IIRC, one whole chapter of this biography is a transcription of that recording.

Bette is drunk, of course. She starts talking about how you know you've really made it when drag queens do you. Mae says she always sues them for stealing her material, lol.

Unfortunately, it's not one of the better Bette bios. I'd try to find it at a public library.

Who was Michael Sarne and who did he fuck to get to direct Myra Breckenridge?

Oops, my post was in reply to R87.

It's true they met, but a "transcription" of the recording could just be a gay fantasy of what the conversation was. Where's the actual recording itself -- if it even exists.

When Bette Met Mae. Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles 2014 "'When Bette Met Mae' is a docudrama about the first encounter between two proto-feminists icons of Hollywood’s Golden Era – Bette Davis and Mae West. The meeting took place late in both of their careers, and contemporary look-alike actors are used to reenact the event. However, in what may be a cinematic first, the dialogue heard by the audience are the actual voices of Davis and West, which were secretly recorded at the time. The result is a fly-on-the-wall chance to eavesdrop on two of cinema’s most fascinating and celebrated figures, as they dish on the leading Hollywood and political movers-and-shakers of the day, the conversation getting more randy as the cocktails continue to pour."

Is the sound better in the real doc than it is in that trailer? I could barely understand a word of what they saying.

Roger Herren, who had a major role in Myra Breckinridge, was so humiliated by the experience he left acting and got hooked on drugs.

Too bad, Roger was a hottie. But, yeah, getting butt-raped by Raquel Welch was kind of humiliating.

Where did you hear about drug use, R98? Not a lot about him on the web. Breckinridge was his only major role. But according to link , he died just last year. He never married.

[quote]But according to link , he died just last year. He never married.

Once you go Raq, you never go back.

What did Raquel Welch think of the other movie that was being shot at the same time as "Myra Breckinridge" called "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?"

There is that incident where suttering john interviews Rachel - asks her "have they dropped yet?" refering to her tits and she hauls off and socks him.

I admire Raquel Welch's charitable work.

She works with Foster Grants, R104, not foster children.

Janis Joplin attended the premier of Myra Breckinridge with Johnny Winter as her date. He recalled:

"Janis and I were so dressed up. She used to do that all the time, but I do remember that she was wearing her big ole cape and has all these feathers in her hair. I was all in black velvet and stuff. Boy. How many times do you get to see Mae West and Raquel Welch in one evening! So we get to the theater, with all those lights and those Hollywood people. We felt we were just a couple of freaks in the middle of that. So, I remember we walked down the aisle to get our seats, and suddenly there was all this applause. We looked at each other because we knew it couldn't be for us. Then we heard somebody say something and we realized they had thought I was Mae West!"

That mae west lady looks like a dirty bitch #fugly #OMGshenasty

[R105] Raquel Welch has an organization which makes high-quality wigs and donates them to to cancer patients. She has some other projects, but doesn't try to advertise her good works.

I have watched that interview with Dick Cavett and Mae West on r 89 link before. Mae said she kept a diary. Where is her diary? What happened to it? Seriously what happened to it? Can you imagine what she said in it? I think it would be great if Mae stated in her diary she thought Raquel was a man! LOL!!!

Catty.

Interesting

Mae nixed the white ruffly collar on a dress Raquel was supposed to wear. Only Mae could wear white/black. But Raquel turned up later in the scene with a blue collar so pale it might as well have been white, lol.

R82 is wrong about Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls. It was not a flop at all. It didn't make a lot of money but it was profitable.

Breckenridge was indeed a flop and not only killed the career of the supremely incompetent Michael Sarne but also resulted in Darryl Zanuck firing his son Richard as head of production at Fox.

It's nice that Coco is kind about Welch regarding the shoot of The Wild Party, but director James Ivory and producer Ismael Merchant were less complimentary. Much less.

If Welch managed to behave herself on the two Musketeer films it's only because her career at that point was already in decline based on a bad rep and she had to attempt to be more professional.