Raquel Welch

US actress Raquel Welch, often credited with paving the way for modern day action heroines in Hollywood films, has died at the age of 82.

Performing a duet with her on The Muppet Show helped moi become the W-O-M-A-N I am today! Raquel Welch was one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever worked with. "She was elegant, professional and glamorous beyond belief," said Witherspoon. Actress and producer Viola Davis posted a clip of her singing "I'm a Woman" with Cher in 1975, writing: "You were ageless to me...iconic". Welch went on to address her image in her memoir, Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage, in which she opened up about her childhood, her early career woes as a single mother in Hollywood, and why she would never lie about her age. Despite her public image, however, she long expressed discomfort with the representation of her body, once saying she "was not brought up to be a sex symbol, nor is it in my nature to be one".

Welch rose to fame for her roles in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C..

She was also ranked #3 in Playboy’s “100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th Century”. The couple married in 1999 in Beverly Hills. Following her breakout film roles in 1966, she became one of the most highly sought-after female stars during the 1960s and 1970s.

The Hollywood star, known for playing strong female characters, rose to fame in the 60s, becoming one of the most sought-after stars in the movie business.

But at some point I said, 'I'm not going to fight it. Raquel — who competed in various beauty pageants before finding fame in the movie business - was also ranked as one of Empire magazine's 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History in 1995. The actress was particularly well-known for playing strong female characters and in 1974, she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her performance in The Three Musketeers.

The star appeared in iconic 60s films Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C., the latter of which catapulted Welch into sex symbol stardom.

*

The star appeared in iconic 60s films Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C., the latter of which catapulted Welch into sex symbol stardom.

*

Raquel Welch, who rose to fame as a sex symbol in the 1960s, has died. She was 82. Welch's manager told NPR she died Wednesday after a brief illness.

Welch's career started in the 1960s with appearances on TV shows such as The Virginian, McHale's Navy and Bewitched. Over the course of her career, she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for her role in the 1974's The Three Musketeers as Constance de Bonacieux, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Raquel Welch, who rose to fame as a sex symbol in the 1960s, has died.

Raquel Welch, whose emergence from the sea in a skimpy, furry bikini in the film "One Million Years B.C." would propel her to international sex symbol ...

(The Jo in her name was from her mother, Josephine). She returned to the Great White Way in 1997 in “Victor/Victoria.” She surprised many critics — and won positive reviews — when she starred in the 1981 musical “Woman of the Year” on Broadway, replacing a vacationing Lauren Bacall. 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.” “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. Welch’s breakthrough came in 1966’s campy prehistoric flick “One Million Years B.C.,” despite having a grand total of three lines.

Actress Raquel Welch, who helped redefine the traditional image of the Hollywood sex symbol with her portrayals of strong women in dozens of movies in the ...

Raquel Welch rose to prominence with the B-movie epic “One Million Years B.C.,” a film in which early human beings are seen battling a menagerie of ...

In 1981, she had a breakthrough when she replaced Lauren Bacall as the star of “Woman of the Year” on Broadway. Welch understood the power of the image, writing, “In the photograph I look so convincing, so formidable standing there astride the rocky landscape in that partially shredded animal skin.” She was invariably described as a sex symbol, though she never posed nude for the camera in any film or photo shoot, despite the efforts of Playboy magazine and various producers. “He was the first in a long line of producers and directors who didn’t give a rat’s ass what I thought,” Ms. “One Million Years B.C.” may have been ludicrous, but it made her a star, largely because of the film poster, which depicted her as an indomitable figure towering over the fearsome beasts in the background. Welch recalled in her 2010 memoir, “Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage,” she approached the director, Don Chaffey, on her first day and said, “Listen, Don, I’ve been studying the script and I’ve been thinking — ”

The American actor has died at the age of 82. In 1966, her appearances in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years BC, wearing a fur bikini, ...

In 1966, her appearances in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years BC, wearing a fur bikini, shot her to stardom. The American actor has died at the age of 82.

Raquel Welch, a veteran actress who rose to fame in the 1960s in the films "One Million Years B.C." and "Fantastic Voyage," has died, according to a ...

In the 90s, Welch appeared in various sitcoms, including “Seinfeld,” where she played herself as a nod to the legendary diva she had become. (The poster later became a central device in the acclaimed movie “The Shawshank Redemption.”) Windham Vandermark, ex-wife of the late Hayworth Windham, whose murder Witherspoon’s Elle Woods helps solve. Welch’s iconic roles continued into the turn of the century. Welch’s career in TV and film spanned decades. Welch also appeared in “Spin City,” as well as “Evening Shade” and “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.”

Over the course of a more than 50-year career, Welch made appearances in more than 30 films and 50 television programs.

The views expressed here are that of the respective authors/ entities and do not represent the views of Economic Times (ET). In 1974, she received a [Golden Globe](/topic/golden-globe)for The Three Musketeers. [Muppet Show](/topic/muppet-show), the Disney series tweeted. In her biography Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage, Welch continued to confront her image. The divorced mother of two worked as both a model and a cocktail waiter for [Mac Cosmetics](/topic/mac-cosmetics)beauty line, and her own line of custom-made wigs.

Star who shot to global fame in the 1960s in One Million Years BC and whose later roles showed her aptitude for comedy.

[Peter Cook](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-peter-cook-1567341.html) and [Dudley Moore](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/mar/28/guardianobituaries.media) in Bedazzled (1967), a comedy irreverently resetting the Faust legend in 1960s swinging London. Variety described Welch as “at best a pleasantly passable singer”, suiting “the costumes better than she does the vocal and acting requirements”. She also comically played a temperamental version of herself attacking Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) and Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in a 1997 episode of Seinfeld. But a technicality involving start dates and contract options ruled out the Bond film and she was cast in Fantastic Voyage (1966), a big-budget sci-fi submarine saga, clad in a wetsuit. She took top billing in Myra Breckinridge (1970), as a transgender movie critic, in a misjudged adaptation of Her last film was How to Be a Latin Lover (2017). In an updating of the [Katharine Hepburn](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jul/01/guardianobituaries.film)-Spencer Tracy 1942 movie of the same title, she gave a show-stopping performance as the TV news personality Tess Harding. In the event, she worked as a model and cocktail waiter in Dallas, Texas, before moving to Los Angeles. The performance won her a Golden Globe best actress award and she reprised the part in The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge (1974). She increasingly took roles on television and worked up an act as a nightclub singer that she took across the US. “It would be inaccurate to say that Miss Welch is a better actress than Miss Bacall, but certainly at this stage of her career she is a more animated musical personality.” Ursula Andress, who had emerged from the sea in another famous bikini for the 1962 James Bond film Dr No, had turned down the role of Loana.

For better or worse, Raquel Welch was the rare star who maintained her bombshell status, well into her old age.

Ms. Somehow, Ms. Why then did Ms. [website](https://www.wigs.com/collections/raquel-welch?cid=227147530&aid=18169023730&kid=95961868330&gclid=Cj0KCQiAorKfBhC0ARIsAHDzslujlTlmBBm3Len1xelbl8x9GZHxgqGB73mL6PwlBK431a0NM9p_V-8aAjLlEALw_wcB&usf_sort=r) for her wigs, all approximating her own hairstyles, featured a lineup of models who resembled Ms. The Although she may have had some “outside” help maintaining her youthful face and figure, Ms. Welch never looked unnatural or “pulled.” Instead, she looked recognizably like herself until the end. Sophia Loren — whose beauty was quite similar to Ms. Welch as “a marvelous, breathing monument to womanhood,” and therein lay the paradox of her career: Monuments don’t breathe, and they don’t age, either. Welch’s early career is certainly the famous poster from 1966, advertising her role as Loana, the cave woman in “One Million Years B.C.” In it, she stands on some ancient-looking landscape of sand and rocks, tawny hair over one shoulder, clad in a tattered deerskin bikini. She was an icon of a certain genre, a screen siren of the sexual revolution. The death of Raquel Welch at 82 invites us to think about what happens to our sex symbols when they age.

Witnesses in Georgia's Trump investigation are suspected of lying. What's that mean for the probe? Plus, Raquel Welch dies at 82: 5 Things podcast.

Celebrities remembered her yesterday, including Reese Witherspoon who tweeted, "She was elegant, professional, and glamorous beyond belief. Jayme, great insight on all of this. All right. But what corporate leaders and investors are seeing from research is that it's not just a moral issue, it's a business one. Overall, men outnumber women five to one among named executives, right? And for this story, we wanted to come up with a different way to measure who holds the most power because the way it's typically reported, companies show that they have hundreds of people in executive jobs, when really the most power is held by a handful of individuals at the top of those companies. What types of jobs are we talking about, Elisabeth, and what's the difference in terms of how gig workers file their taxes? So what does that mean for tax season? So much work now takes place in the so-called gig economy. Plus, a look at the latest debt ceiling timeline and how to do your taxes in the gig economy. Taylor Wilson: What's that mean for the probe?

Raquel Welch, whose emergence from the sea in a skimpy, furry bikini in the film “One Million Years B.C.” would propel her to international sex symbol ...

She surprised many critics — and won positive reviews — when she starred in the 1981 musical “Woman of the Year” on Broadway, replacing a vacationing Lauren Bacall. 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.” (The Jo in her name was from her mother, Josephine). Welch was a divorced mother when she met ex-actor turned press agent, Patrick Curtis. Welch’s breakthrough came in 1966’s campy prehistoric flick “One Million Years B.C.,” despite having a grand total of three lines. 2 spot on Men’s Health’s “Hottest Women of All Time” list.

Raquel Welch, whose emergence from the sea in a skimpy, furry bikini in the film “One Million Years B.C.” would propel her to international sex symbol ...

She surprised many critics — and won positive reviews — when she starred in the 1981 musical “Woman of the Year” on Broadway, replacing a vacationing Lauren Bacall. 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.” (The Jo in her name was from her mother, Josephine). Welch was a divorced mother when she met ex-actor turned press agent, Patrick Curtis. Welch’s breakthrough came in 1966’s campy prehistoric flick “One Million Years B.C.,” despite having a grand total of three lines. 2 spot on Men’s Health’s “Hottest Women of All Time” list.

The veteran film, television and stage actress died Wednesday morning at the age of 82, after a brief illness.

This 1960s film follows scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) as he develops a way to shrink humans and other objects for brief periods. In a career spanning nearly six decades, Welch started in the 1960s with appearances on TV shows such as The Virginian, McHale's Navy and Bewitched. Welch made film history in this 1969 Western, starring alongside African American actor and former professional football player Jim Brown. Welch only had a few lines, but her animal skin two-piece became part of pop culture history. The movie, set in 1912 in Sonora, Mexico, follows native revolutionary Yaqui Joe (played by Burt Reynolds) as he robs a bank to buy guns for the Yaqui people. The news was confirmed to NPR by her son, Damon.