Raquel Welch, ’60s and ’70s screen siren, dies at 82

Actor Raquel Welch, who helped reshape the traditional image of the Hollywood sex symbol in an era when the movie industry was still overtly defining an idealised version of sensuality for mass consumption, died on Wednesday at the age of 82.

Her death, following a brief illness, was confirmed in a statement released by her manager.

Welch first grabbed attention with her role in the 1966 sci-fi adventure Fantastic Voyage, playing a member of a miniaturised medical team injected into the body of an injured diplomat. She is remembered for the iconic skin-tight diving suit she wore in a scene where she was attacked by antibodies.

Her success in that film was followed by an iconic appearance in the same year in the prehistoric fantasy drama One Million Years B.C., depicting cavemen and women coexisting with dinosaurs.

Although Welch had just a few dialogues in the fantasy drama, photos of her character in a deer-skinned bikini made her a best-selling pin-up and a global symbol. Other screen credits in the late 1960s and early 1970s included Bedazzled Bandolero! (1968), 100 Rifles (1969) and the titular roles in Myra Breckinridge (1970) and Hannie Caulder (1971). She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her performance in the 1973 swashbuckling romp The Three Musketeers.

Her portrayal of strong, wilful characters was credited for breaking stereotypes at a time when the sexual revolution and changing attitudes toward gender roles converged to empower women on screen.

In a career spanning more than half a century, she appeared in more than 30 films and 50 television series.

PHOTO: CHRIS PIZZELLO (2000), Raquel Welch