American actress Raquel Welch has died at the age of 82. Her manager made this known to AFP news agency. According to entertainment site TMZ, she died after a short illness.
Welch won the 1974 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy. That was for her role as Constance Bonacieux in The Three Musketeers. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
‘Dinosaur woman and science lady’
Welch made his breakthrough in the film world in the 1960s. Her portrayal of Cora Peterson in Fantastic Voyage (1966) earned the twentysomething sex symbol status. Just before that in the same year, One Million Years BC had also been released, in which she could be seen in a bikini made of fur.
“I was the dinosaur woman first and then the science lady,” she said in an interview with The Sunday Post five years ago. “Both films had a huge influence on my career. Suddenly I was very popular.”
One Million Years BC / Beach (Official Clip)
Welch also guest-starred on numerous major TV series, such as The Muppet Show and Seinfeld. Her last role dates from 2017 in the series Date My Dad.
Real acting
“I’ve done quite a few movies, TV shows and plays,” Welch looked back on her career in the aforementioned newspaper interview. “I think people realized I wasn’t just there to look good on the movie poster. I could actually act.”
Didn’t she ever get tired of talking about that animal skin bikini? Not in my own words. “It was a pivotal moment in my life, so why wouldn’t I want to talk about it? Almost every day I get copies of that photo sent to autograph. I must have seen that image One Million times!”
