Raquel Welch, ‘Improbable Voyage’ star, has died at age 82

CNN
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Raquel Welch, a veteran actress who rose to fame within the Sixties within the movies “One Million Years B.C.” and “Improbable Voyage,” has died, based on a press release offered by her supervisor, Steve Sauer.

She was 82.

Welch died Wednesday morning in Los Angeles after a “temporary sickness,” the assertion stated.

The actress, with greater than 70 movie and tv credit, obtained her begin as a spokesmodel on a spread present, “Hollywood Palace,” and had a small position within the Elvis Presley movie “Roustabout” in 1964.

Her profession took off two years later, with the discharge of the science fiction movie “Improbable Voyage,” a couple of workforce of scientists shrunken and injected right into a critically unwell man’s physique; and “One Million Years, B.C.,” a prehistoric drama that solid Welch because the cavewoman Loana, with the images of her in a fur bikini changing into the inspiration of the film’s advertising and marketing marketing campaign, whereas turning Welch into a world intercourse image. (The poster later grew to become a central gadget within the acclaimed film “The Shawshank Redemption.”)

Welch’s profession in TV and movie spanned many years. Various starring roles for Welch adopted within the late Sixties, together with the westerns “Bandolero!” and “100 Rifles,” the latter notable for her then-controversial interracial love scene with former soccer star Jim Brown.

In 1967, following the moment success of “Improbable Voyage” and “One Million Years, B.C.,” Welch starred as Lilian Lust in “Bedazzled,” a movie that was later remade in 2000 starring Elizabeth Hurley and Brendan Fraser.

The Chicago-born actress went on to star as Constance de Bonacieux within the 1973 film “The Three Musketeers.” Welch gained a greatest actress Golden Globe award for her efficiency, and reprised her position as de Bonacieux within the 1974 sequel “The 4 Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge.”

Different notable roles for Welch embrace the titular position in 1970’s “Myra Breckinridge,” through which she performed a trans actress.

Within the 90s, Welch appeared in numerous sitcoms, together with “Seinfeld,” the place she performed herself as a nod to the legendary diva she had grow to be. Welch additionally appeared in “Spin Metropolis,” “Night Shade” and “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.”

Welch’s iconic roles continued into the flip of the century. The Hollywood legend appeared in 2001’s “Legally Blonde” alongside Reese Witherspoon and portrayed Mrs. Windham Vandermark, ex-wife of the late Hayworth Windham, whose homicide Witherspoon’s Elle Woods helps remedy.

Because the momentum pushed forth for Welch, the “intercourse image” moniker additionally continued to stay round.

“A part of being a intercourse image may be very flattering and it does provide help to get success within the enterprise – however solely to a degree,” Welch stated in an interview with Cinema.com across the launch of her 2001 movie “Tortilla Soup,” including that “it does cloud individuals’s creativeness.”

“They only can’t see you with the ability to do the rest.”

Welch’s ultimate skilled credit score got here in 2017, the place the icon starred as Rosa, the mother-in-law of a single dad, in UPtv’s “Date My Dad.”

Welch additionally devoted time to a profession as an entrepreneur, which included jewellery, skincare and wig traces.

The star leaves behind her two youngsters, son Damon Welch and her daughter Tahnee Welch, based on her supervisor’s assertion.