Enlarge image
Raquel Welch in Los Angeles (in 2017)
Photo:
Danny Moloshok / REUTERS
The US actress Raquel Welch is dead. The actress died at the age of 82 after a "brief illness", according to her management.
Born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago in 1940, Welch celebrated her breakthrough in 1966 in the Stone Age hit »A Million Years Before Time«.
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 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 cloak and dagger film The Three Musketeers (1973), for which she received a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy.
In her 2010 memoir, Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage, she looked back on her iconic role as the scantily clad cave girl Loana in A Million Years Before Time.
The film and the advertising posters with Welch in a skimpy fur bikini would have changed her life in one fell swoop.
Suddenly she was just a sex symbol.
In 2010, Welch told the Los Angeles Times that she was catapulted into the limelight and achieved superstardom overnight.
She saw this as an opportunity that she should make the best of.
Wel was married four times and divorced four times.
Her first marriage has two children, Damon and Tahnee.
Numerous colleagues reacted to the news of her death.
"Rest in peace," wrote actor Antonio Banderas on Twitter.
The Spaniard posted four photos of the actress with a black heart emoji.
“She was elegant, professional and incredibly glamorous.
Simply stunning," Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon wrote on Twitter.
She loved being in front of the camera with Welch for the film Legally Blonde (2001).
"We have lost a true icon," wrote director and actor Paul Feig in a tweet.
The 60-year-old recalled a joint appearance in 1996 in the sitcom »Sabrina – Totally Bewitched!«.
She was "warm, funny and a true superstar".
He had a crush on Welch for most of his childhood.
atb/AFP/dpa