FILE – Raquel Welch at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘How to Be a Latin Lover’ on April 26, 2017. Raquel Welch, the international movie sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, has died at the age of 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (Photo Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Raquel Welch, who emerged from the sea in a revealing woolly bikini in the movie “One Million Years BC” and became an international sex symbol of the 1960s and 70s, has died at 82 .

Welch died Wednesday morning after a brief illness, said his agent, Stephen LaManna of talent agency Innovative Artists.

Welch’s breakout role came in 1966 with the prehistoric story “One Million Years BC”, in which he had a total of three dialogues. Wearing this brown bikini, she managed to dodge the pterodactyls, but not the public eye.

“I thought it was some stupid dinosaur epic that we were going to sweep under the rug someday,” he told The Associated Press in 1981. “Wrong. Turns out I was the Bo Derek of the season. The girl in the fur dress that everyone said ‘god, what a body’ and who we hoped would disappear overnight”.

But that was not the case, she played Lust for the comedy team of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in their film “Bedazzled” (“My friend the devil”) and a secret agent in the spy satire “Fathom (“Beautiful, Fearless, and Spy”), both from 1967.

Her curves and beauty caught the attention of pop culture, with Playboy declaring her “the most desirable woman” of the 1970s, although she was never fully nude in the magazine. In 2013, she was ranked number two on Men’s Health magazine’s “Sexiest Women of All Time” list. In the film “The Shawshank Redemption” (“Dreams of Freedom”), protagonist Andy Dufresne uses a poster of Welch to cover a tunnel through which he escapes from prison, after using similar images of Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe .

In addition to acting, Welch has been a singer and dancer. She surprised many critics and received positive reviews when she starred in the 1981 Broadway musical “Woman of the Year,” replacing Lauren Bacall. Welch returned to Broadway in 1997 for a production of “Victor/Victoria.”

She knew that some people didn’t take her seriously because of her image. “I’m not Penny Marshall or Barbra Streisand,” he told the AP in 1993. “They say, ‘Raquel Welch wants to direct? Please”‘.

Welch, real name Jo-Raquel Tejada, was born in Chicago and raised in La Jolla, California. Her father was Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo, an aerospace engineer from Bolivia, and her mother was American, Josephine Sarah Hall. The Jo in Welch’s name is an abbreviation of his mother’s name.

Welch was a divorced mother when she met actor-turned-publicist Patrick Curtis.

“The irony of it all is that even though people thought of me as a sex symbol, I was actually a single mother with two young children!” she wrote in her autobiography, “ Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage”.

Curtis became her manager and second husband, helping her become a glam girl with hundreds of magazine covers and several movies, as well as exercise videos and wellness books like The Raquel Welch Total Beauty. and Fitness Program.

Although he appeared in exploitation films, he also surprised many in the industry with polished performances, including Richard Lester’s “The Three Musketeers”, which won Welch a Golden Globe, and faced to James Coco in “Wild Party” (“Wild Party”). She was also nominated for a Globe in 1988 for the TV movie “Right to Die”.

He was married and divorced four times, survived by his children Damon Welch and Tahnee Welch, who is also an actress.

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Mark Kennedy is on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

FILE- Raquel Welch, who stars in the Broadway musical "Woman of the Year", poses with sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Saipan and Marines July 3, 1982 in New York City. Welch, the international sex symbol of 1960s and 1970s films, has died aged 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (AP Photo/David Handschuh, File)
FILE- Raquel Welch, who stars in the Broadway musical ‘Woman of the Year,’ poses with sailors from the USS Saipan and Marines aircraft carrier July 3, 1982 in New York City. Welch, the international sex symbol of 1960s and 1970s films, has died aged 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (AP Photo/David Handschuh, File)
FILE - Raquel Welch during a rehearsal for the Broadway play "Woman of the Year" with Ed Nolfi, left to right, Sterling Clark and Paul Bogave in New York on November 12, 1981. Welch, international movie sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, died at 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (AP Photo/Angel Franco, file)
FILE – Raquel Welch during a rehearsal for the Broadway play ‘Woman of the Year’ starring Ed Nolfi, from left, Sterling Clark and Paul Bogave in New York on November 12, 1981. Welch, an international sex symbol of the Cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, died at the age of 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (AP Photo/Angel Franco, file)
FILE- U.S. actress Raquel Welch poses for portraits in Paris January 15, 1970. Welch, the international movie sex symbol of the 1960s and 70s, has died aged 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz, File)
FILE- U.S. actress Raquel Welch poses for portraits in Paris January 15, 1970. Welch, the international film sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, has died aged 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz, File)
FILE - Raquel Welch arrives at the 2014 Carousel of Hope Ball in Beverly Hills, California October 11, 2014. Welch, an international movie sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, has died at the age of 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (Photo Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – Raquel Welch arrives at the 2014 Carousel of Hope Ball in Beverly Hills, California October 11, 2014. Welch, an international movie sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, has died at the age of 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (Photo Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - U.S. actress Raquel Welch poses backstage at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles September 20, 1987. Welch, the international movie sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, has died aged 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (AP Photo/Doug Pizac, File)
FILE – U.S. actress Raquel Welch poses backstage at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles September 20, 1987. Welch, the international movie sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, has died aged 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (AP Photo/Doug Pizac, File)
FILE - New York Jets player Joe Namath arrives with actress Raquel Welch at the 44th Academy Awards in Los Angeles April 10, 1972. Welch, an international sex symbol of 1960s and 70s films, died at the 82 years old. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent said. (AP Photo, File)
FILE – New York Jets player Joe Namath arrives with actress Raquel Welch at the 44th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles April 10, 1972. Welch, an international sex symbol of 1960s and 70s films, has died at the age of 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent said. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - U.S. actress Raquel Welch at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 20, 1966. Welch, the international cinema sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, has died aged 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (AP Photo, File)
FILE – U.S. actress Raquel Welch at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 20, 1966. Welch, the international cinema sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, has died aged 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Raquel Welch at the Los Angeles Premiere of "How to be a Latin lover" on April 26, 2017. Raquel Welch, international sex symbol of cinema of the 60s and 70s, died at the age of 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (Photo Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – Raquel Welch at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘How to Be a Latin Lover’ on April 26, 2017. Raquel Welch, the international movie sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, has died at the age of 82. Welch died Feb. 15, 2023, after a brief illness, his agent Stephen LaManna said. (Photo Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

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