Raquel Welch, a prolific actress and international sex symbol of the ’60s and ’70s, died on Feb. 15 at age 82. Welch first gained notice for her stunning physique but proved her acting chops over her decades-long career. Her films included “Fantastic Voyage,” “100 Rifles,” “Myra Breckinridge,” “Bedazzled,” “Tortilla Soup” and “Legally Blonde.” Her fans included painter Salvador Dali: He painted this abstract portrait of her in 1965.
Raquel turned heads as a scantily clad prehistoric hottie in 1966’s “One Million Years B.C.”
Raquel Welch poses with a billboard from her breakout 1966 movie, “One Million Years B.C.”
Meeting Queen Elizabeth II in 1966.
One of her first films was “Fantastic Voyage” with Stephen Boyd. A team is shrunk to microscopic size to go inside the body of an injured scientist in the 1966 sci-fi adventure.
Raquel’s sex symbol status was undeniably established with pinup shots like this one from 1970.
Welch costarred with Jim Brown and Burt Reynolds in the 1969 western “100 Rifles.”
She proved she was more than a just pretty face as a roller derby star in 1972’s “Kansas City Bomber.”
Welch costarred with another sex symbol, Mae West, in the scandalous 1970 film “Myra Breckinridge,” based on the novel by Gore Vidal.
She starred along with Ian McShane, James Coburn and James Mason in the murder mystery “The Last of Sheila” in 1973.
Welch won a Golden Globe for her role as comedic Constance in the 1973 adaptation of “The Three Musketeers,” in which she starred opposite Michael York, Faye Dunaway and Oliver Reed. She was nominated for a Golden Globe again for her role in the TV movie “Right to Die.”
In 1977, she co-starred in “Animal” with French film legend Jean-Paul Belmondo.
At the Academy Awards in 1983.
In 2000, turning heads at the Carousel of Hope Ball in Beverly Hills.
She memorably played widow Mrs. Windham Vandermark in the 2001 comedy “Legally Blonde.”
Welch (photographed here with Hector Elizondo and Giselle Fernandez) was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Imagen Awards in 2001. It honors positive portrayals of Latinos and Latino cultures in the entertainment industry.
Raquel Welch at the “Tortilla Soup” premiere in 2001 with costars Hector Elizondo and Jacqueline Obradors
She was honored at a retrospective event in 2004.
At a signing for her autobiography, “Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage,” on April 6, 2010 in Los Angeles.
With “How to Be a Latin Lover” actors Rob Corddry, Rob Lowe, Raphael Alejandro and Eugenio Derbez on April 26, 2017 at the Los Angeles premiere.
