At the age of 67, Raquel Welch is having some fun with her sexpot image

Nobody is less surprised that Raquel Welch's latest role casts her as sort of a sexpot/femme fatale than Welch herself. And she has absolutely no complaint about being cast in that kind of a role in the new CBS comedy "Welcome to the Captain."

"It would be too late for me to say no," Welch said with a laugh.

Her career dates back to 1964 when she played — surprise! — a call girl in the film "A House Is Not a Home." Her career took off a couple of years later when she wore skimpy outfits in "Fantastic Voyage" and "One Million Years B.C."

It's not like Welch never played a nun — it's just that she played a nun in the 1970 movie "Bluebeard" opposite Richard Burton.

"I gave up my habit for Richard Burton. My nun had some rather libidinous leanings," she said in a conference call with TV critics. "She was kind of a sexpot underneath."

In "Welcome," which premieres Monday at 7:30 p.m. on Ch. 2, Welch stars as sexpot Charlene Van Ark, a faded actress whose career peaked when she was on a prime-time soap opera — either "Knots Landing" or "Falcon Crest," nobody can remember which — back in the 1980s. And she still harbors hopes of reviving her career.

In real life, Welch is, as hard as it might be to believe, 67. She looks fantastic, and she hasn't given much thought to the fact that she's a woman in her 60s playing a woman in her 50s pretending to be a woman in her 40s.

"Well, no, not particularly, because I'm used to being me," Welch said.

And she's used to playing roles like Charlene.

"I could see myself in this character," Welch said. "I could see that I could play this character and people would believe it because of my previous career, I suppose, as a glamor puss."

She's lampooning that persona just a bit in "Welcome to the Captain."

"I haven't done anything like this in quite a long time," Welch said. "And I think it's a good chance for me to have a bit of fun with my image."

"Welcome" is about an eclectic group of characters who live in a fable old Hollywood apartment building — El Capitan, nicknamed The Captain. Josh (Fran Kranz), a former whiz-kid screenwriter whose career is on the skids, is about to leave Los Angeles and head back to New York when his best friend/accountant, Marty (Chris Klein), convinces him to move into the building.