Raquel Welch: famed actor and model dies aged 82
Raquel Welch, the famed Hollywood actor and successful model, has died at the age of 82. Welch’s manager confirmed her death as part of an official press release, explaining that she had passed away following a “brief illness”. Welch rose to prominence as a star of 1960s cinema, most famously for her performance in the Don Chaffey movie One Million Years BC.
Despite the lukewarm reviews, Welch became known as a sex symbol around the world, going on to have further iconic roles which cemented her alongside other iconic pop culture figures such as Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. On the strength of her two most popular on-screen performances, Welch mentioned getting swept into stardom fairly quickly, explaining: “Overnight, I found myself in demand. Before that I was not much more than an extra”.
Outside of her acting career, Welch would go on to play pivotal roles in cinema in later decades. As the ’60s started to swing, Welch was at the forefront of fashion, starting or defining trends, including the trend of big hair.
Her roles in films like Hannie Caulder became inspirations for a number of contemporary directors, notably Quentin Tarantino further on in his career, as well as playing a key function in The Shawshank Redemption. Memorably, as Andy Dufresne is plotting his grand escape plan from Shawshank prison, a poster of Welch from One Million Years BC is used to cover up the massive hole in his prison cell.
While she was known for capturing a specific moment in the ’60s, Welch always was proud of her mark on fashion and cinema history. She once said: “Almost every day I get copies of the photo sent to me for an autograph. I must have looked at that photo one million times. I remember James Stewart telling me a long time ago never to avoid your fans or the things that your fans like about you. It was good advice”. Although Welch might no longer be with us, she has left behind an indelible impact on the world of film and fashion.
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