Actress Raquel Welch dies at age 82
Raquel Welch, an actress who rose to fame in the late 1960s and became an icon of her era, has died at 82 years old, her manager told CBS News on Wednesday.
"Raquel Welch, the legendary bombshell actress of film, television and stage, passed away peacefully early this morning after a brief illness," Welch's manager, Steven Sauer, wrote in a statement.
Welch first rose to fame in 1966 for her roles in "Fantastic Voyage" and "One Million Years B.C."
Welch only had a handful of lines in 'B.C.' but it was her wardrobe that grabbed the worlds attention, which was a simple and skimpy deerskin bikini.
Throughout the 60s and 70s Welch won many awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy for "The Three Musketeers." She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the television drama 'Right or Die' in 1987.
Welch was also named as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History" in an issue of Empire magazine in 1995 and was ranked #3 in Playboy's "100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th Century."
In 1994, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Even before her first film roles, Welch was on TV: According to CBS Los Angeles, her very first on-screen job was as a weather caster at a CBS station in San Diego.
"It was fun and you know, they paid me a whole $7.50 per show. I was so excited, I got to be on television," she told CBS Los Angeles in 2012.
Welch married four times and had two children, Damon and Tahnee, with her first husband James Welch. She married James Welch in May 1959, but the two divorced in 1964. Even after their separation, she continued using the last name Welch. Both of Welch's children are still alive and have had their own acting careers.
In 1967, she married producer Patrick Curtis. They divorced in 1972. In 1980, she married producer André Weinfeld, and they divorced in 1990. Finally, she wed Richard Palmer in 1999, but the pair separated in 2003 and later divorced.
"What can I say, I've been married four times and I still didn't get it right. I'm learning," she joked to CBS Los Angeles.