Hollywood bombshell Raquel Welch died Wednesday at age 82 after a brief, undisclosed illness, according to multiple media reports.
Born Jo Raquel Tejada in 1940, Welch was one of the leading sex symbols of the 1960s and ’70s. She made her film debut in the 1964 Elvis musical Roustabout and went on to have a lengthy career that included movies like Bedazzled, Fantastic Voyage, One Million Years B.C., Myra Breckinridge and Bandolero!, a 1968 western that co-starred Jimmy Stewart and Dean Martin.
Raquel Welch with Stephen Boyd in 1966’s Fantastic Voyage.
Getty ImagesShe won a Golden Globe for her performance in the 1973 film The Three Musketeers and was nominated for another Globe for the 1987 TV movie Right to Die.
Welch reportedly had feuds with several costars, including Mae West. In 2011, she told AARP she was more mindful about nurturing relationships.
“I wasn’t impossible before, but in the past 10 years I’ve made a concerted effort to think about what I have to do for other people — what I owe, what my part is in whatever relationship or situation I find myself in,” she said. “It’s getting older, I guess, that makes you think that way.”
Welch is survived by her children, Damon, 63, and Tahnee, 61.
Representatives for Welch didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
