Sex Symbol Raquel Welch Honored With Local Award

Actress Raquel Welch will be honored in March with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Palm Springs Women in Film and Television Gala.

The fourth annual Broken Glass Awards are set for 6 p.m. Friday, March 2 at the Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa in Rancho Mirage, according to Diane Marlin-Dirkx, a spokeswoman for the event.

Welch, who has a home in the Coachella Valley, became a household name in her first film "One Million Years B.C."

"Being a sex symbol was rather like being a convict," Welch has said. Her book, released in 2010, "Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage" was a best-seller.

Welch will be given the Lifetime Achievement Award by Palm Springs Women in Television (SWIFT) "for her deft and determined shattering of the glass ceiling, thwarting a stereotype, and taking on challenging roles in a diverse choice of media to great success," Marlin-Dirkx said.

Other atendees of the fourth annual Broken Glass Awards include actress Shirley Jones (Gena Rowlands Award), director Jennifer Yuh Nelson whose film Kung Fu Panda 2 is an Oscar® nominee (Broken Glass Award), philanthropist Barbara Keller (The Jackie Lee Houston Humanitarian Award) and producer Kim Waltrip (Desert Diva Award).

The cost to attend the event is $100 for PSWIFT and $150 for non-members. To purchase tickets, visit www.pswift.org or call (760) 238-0306.