DThe US actress Raquel Welch is dead. Welch, who celebrated cinema successes in the 60s and 70s and became one of the most photographed Hollywood beauties, died on Wednesday at the age of 82 after a “short illness”. informed her management of the German Press Agency.
Welch, born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago in 1940, celebrated her breakthrough in 1966 in the Stone Age hit “A Million Years Before Our Time” – mainly thanks to her tight fur bikini. As cave girl Loana, the then 26-year-old became a sex symbol overnight. Welch had previously played several smaller roles, after which she celebrated numerous cinema successes.
She has worked with Hollywood greats such as James Stewart (“Bandolero”), Frank Sinatra (“Lady in Cement”), John Huston (“Myra Breckinridge”) and Burt Reynolds (“Death Comes Softly”). She demonstrated her comedic talent in The Three Musketeers (1973), for which she received a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy.
Wel was married four times and divorced four times. Her first marriage has two children, Damon and Tahnee.