Raquel Welch, the American actress known for her role in One Million Years B.C. that made her a 1960s pin-up icon and later made a memorable guest appearance on Seinfeld, has died at 82.
Welch’s son Damon Welch confirmed his mother’s death (via The New York Times), although no cause was given.
Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5th, 1940 in Chicago, and expressed interest in entertainment and performing at an early age. She studied ballet and won numerous beauty pageants in her youth, enrolling in a theater program at San Diego State College after graduating high school.
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Following a series of one-off television appearances, Welch made her first leading feature film appearance in 1966 starring in Richard Fleischer’s sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage, which was a commercial success and quickly secured her star status. The following year, she appeared in Don Chaffey’s One Million Years B.C.; her only costume in the film was a doeskin and fur bikini, described in the film as “mankind’s first bikini.” A publicity still of her in the bikini turned her into a highly-recognizable cultural phenomenon, appearing on a best-selling pin-up poster.
From there, Welch was widely regarded as an early international sex symbol, starring in films like Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero! (1968), 100 Rifles (1969), Myra Breckinridge (1970), Hannie Caulder (1971), and The Three Musketeers (1973). Along with shifting the American ideal of a sex symbol away from the typical blond bombshell, Welch’s numerous leading roles as strong female characters also broke the traditional expectations of a sex symbol.
Outside of movies, Welch also had a handful of her own television specials, including 1970’s Raquel!, 1974’s Really, Raquel, and 1980’s From Raquel with Love. She hosted a 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live, guest starred on an episode of the sketch comedy series Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In as well as The Muppet Show, and made a cameo as herself on a 1997 episode of Seinfeld. One of her final major film roles was in 2001 as Mrs. Windham-Vandermark in Legally Blonde.
In 1995, Empire named Welch one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History, while Playboy — for whom she posed in 1979 — ranked Welch No. 3 on their 100 Sexiest Stars of the Twentieth Century list.
