Actress Raquel Welch, sex symbol of 1960s, dead at age 82

Actress Raquel Welch arrives for the 9th season finale of ‘American Idol’ in Los Angeles May 26, 2010.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Raquel Welch, the film actress whose sultry, curvaceous looks made her a leading sex symbol of the 1960s and ’70s, has died at age 82, the French news agency AFP reported on Wednesday, citing her manager.

Welch came to the wide attention of moviegoers for her role in the 1966 sci-fi adventure “Fantastic Voyage”, followed by her iconic appearance later that year in the prehistoric drama “One Million Years B.C.”

Although Welch had just a few lines of dialogue in “B.C.,” images of her memorable appearance in a fur-skinned bikini made her a bestselling pinup that transformed her into a global sex symbol.