15 February 2023
(KTLA) – Legendary Hollywood actress Raquel Welch has died, TMZ reported Wednesday.
Family sources told TMZ that she died after a brief illness. She was 82 years old.
Born Jo Raquel Welch, she won attention for her role in the 1966 film “Fantastic Voyage,” which granted her a contract with 20th Century Fox.
She became an international sex symbol in “One Million Years B.C” after she donned the famous doe-skin bikini. That status stayed with her. In 1995, Empire magazine chose her as one of the “100 Sexiest Stars in Film History.” She came in at No. 3 in Playboy’s “100 Sexiest Stars of the Twentieth Century.”
Welch also proved she had great acting skills. She won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy in 1974 for her role in “The Three Musketeers.”
In the ’80s, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the 1987 film “Right to Die.”
In 1959, she married her high school sweetheart James Welch and they had two children, Damon and Latanne “Tahnee” Welch. The couple divorced in 1964.
She married producer Patrick Curtis from 1967 to 1972, and then producer Andre Weinfeld from 1980 to 1990. Her last marriage was to Mulberry Street Pizzeria owner, Richard Palmer from 1999 to 2004.