Raquel Welch, actor and international sex symbol, dies at 82
Raquel Welch #RaquelWelch
LOS ANGELES — Actor Raquel Welch, whose role in the 1966 film “One Million Years B.C.” shot her to stardom and cemented her status as a sex symbol, has died, her management company said.
She was 82.
Welch died Wednesday morning following a brief illness, Media Four said in a statement.
A publicity photo for “One Million Years” showing her wearing a fur bikini thrust her into international fame.
“I just thought it was a goofy dinosaur epic we’d be able to sweep under the carpet one day,” she told The Associated Press in 1981. “Wrong. It turned out that I was the Bo Derek of the season, the lady in the loin cloth about whom everyone said, ‘My God, what a bod’ and they expected to disappear overnight.”
She did not, playing Lust for the comedy team of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in their film “Bedazzled” in 1967 and playing a secret agent in the sexy spy spoof “Fathom” that same year.
American actress Raquel Welch, 1970.Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images file
Her curves and beauty captured pop culture attention, with Playboy crowning her the “most desired woman” of the ’70s, despite never being completely naked in the magazine. In 2013, she graced the No. 2 spot on Men’s Health’s “Hottest Women of All Time” list. In the film “The Shawshank Redemption,” a poster of Welch covers an escape tunnel — the last of three that character Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) used after Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe.
Welch won a Golden Globe in 1975 for best actress in a musical/comedy for her role in “The Three Musketeers.” She was nominated in 1988 for best actress in a limited series for her role in “Right to Die.”
Over the course of a career that spanned more than 50 years, Welch had more than 30 film and 50 television credits.
Her most recent appearances were on the TV Series “Date My Dad” in 2017 and in the film “How to be a Latin Lover,” which was released that same year, according to her IMDb profile.
Welch, born in Chicago, was involved in a very successful line of wigs.
She is survived by her two children, Damon Welch and Tahnee Welch.
Diana Dasrath
Marlene Lenthang
The Associated Press contributed.