Raquel Welch, actress and Hollywood sex symbol, dead at 82

Raquel Welch, who rose to fame as a sex symbol in the 1960s, has died. She was 82.

Welch’s manager told NPR she died Wednesday after a brief illness.

Welch’s career started in the 1960s with appearances on TV shows such as The Virginian, McHale’s Navy and Bewitched. That paved the way for back-to-back roles in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C. That latter role catapulted her to sex symbol status.

Over the course of her career, she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, for her role in the 1974’s The Three Musketeers as Constance de Bonacieux, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She leaves behind her two children, her son Damon Welch and her daughter, Tahnee Welch.