Actress Raquel Welch dead at 82

Raquel Welch, who “paved the way as both an actress and international sex symbol” has died, multiple outlets report. She was 82.

Welch died Wednesday morning after a brief illness, TMZ reports, citing statements from family members.

In 1966, Welch reportedly rose to fame for her back-to-back roles in “Fantastic Voyage” and “One Million Years B.C.”.

TMZ reports that Welch had minimal lines in ‘B.C.’, “but it was her wardrobe – a simple and skimpy deerskin bikini – that catapulted her to sex symbol status.”

Welch was one of the most sought-after female stars throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, TMZ adds, “taking home plenty of hardware in the process, including a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her 1974 role in ‘The Three Musketeers’.”

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Through the years THE HOLLYWOOD PALACE - "Billboard Girl" Gallery - Shoot Date: April 24, 1964. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) RAQUEL WELCH (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Con)

In 2017, Welch told Fox News that her role in “One Million Years B.C.” nearly cost her life. Cox Media Group’s Theresa Seiger reports that Welch said she developed tonsillitis on the set while wearing her costume in severe weather conditions.

“I had already so much penicillin when I was wearing the fur bikini that I almost died,” she told Fox News.

“I had to rush, turn my car around and head right back to the doctor’s office, just run upstairs, jump in the elevator and all that. And I barely got there. They had to shoot me with an antidote. Otherwise, I would have died. It was (a) really rough shoot, man. Really rough. And then I came to London and everybody knew who I was.”

Check back for more on this developing story.

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