Vale: Raquel Welch

Screen goddess Raquel Welch, best known for One Million Years B.C., Fantastic Voyage and Myra Breckinridge, has died, aged 82.

She died peacefully early on Wednesday morning after “a brief illness”, her manager confirmed, but there were no further details.

Welch became an international icon after appearing in a deerskin bikini in the 1966 British fantasy adventure One Million Years BC. Her cavewoman poster became part of cinema history. In 2011, Time listed the image in the “Top Ten Bikinis in Pop Culture”.

“Almost every day I get copies of the photo sent to me for an autograph. I must have looked at that photo one million times,” she once said.

“I remember James Stewart telling me a long time ago never to avoid your fans or the things that your fans like about you. It was good advice.”

She completed more than 30 films, including Fantastic Voyage and a Golden Globe win for The Three Musketeers, as well as some 50 television series in a career spanning five decades. She starred in Hollywood’s first interracial sex scene with Jim Brown in 100 Rifles, and as a transgender heroine in Myra Breckinridge in 1970.

Other films included Bedazzled, Bandolero!, Hannie Caulder, Bluebeard, The Last of Sheila, Legally Blonde and Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult.

Her television credits include telemovies Right to Die, The Ultimate Legacy, Tainted Blood, The Ultimate Paradise, The Legend of Walks Far Woman, Torch Song plus series such as Seinfeld, Mork & Mindy, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Spin City, 8 Simple Rules, CSI: Miami, and Date My Dad.

During a visit to Australia for the Logie Awards Welch instructed Seven’s lighting technicians on the ideal lighting for her, but later tried to pull out after cleverly realising Seven mogul Christopher Skase owned jewellery store Hardy Bros. It took a green emerald ring for her appearance to woo her back on stage.

In later years, Welch continued to act occasionally, but also developed her own line of wigs, hair pieces and hair extensions.

In 1995, she was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the “100 Sexiest Stars in Film History”. Playboy also ranked Welch No. 3 on their “100 Sexiest Stars of the Twentieth Century” list.

Source: The Guardian, IMDb, Wikipedia