Raquel Welch, One Million Years BC actor, dies aged 82

The actor Raquel Welch has died. She was 82.

The website TMZ first reported the news, citing family members who said Welch died on Wednesday after a short illness.

The actor became an international icon after appearing in a deerskin bikini in the 1966 British fantasy adventure film One Million Years BC.

Welch, a Golden Globe award winner, starred in more than 30 films, including Fantastic Voyage and The Three Musketeers, as well as some 50 television series in a career spanning five decades.

Born Jo-Raquel Tejada in Chicago in 1940, to a Bolivian father and an American mother, Welch rose to fame and sex symbol status under her new name in the 1960s.

In 2002, she told the New York Times she was proud to acknowledge her Latino roots.

She said she did not mind being widely known for the fur bikini she wore in One Million Years BC.

While filming Cannery Row in 1982, Welch was fired for insisting on doing her hair and make-up at home. She sued MGM studios for breach of contract, ultimately winning a $15m settlement.

A lover of yoga, Welch later launched herself into the business of wellbeing, publishing her Total Beauty and Fitness program in 1984.

Having long hidden her Latino origins, as an elegant 60-something she took on Hispanic roles in the American Family series on PBS in 2002 and Tortilla Soup in 2001.

In 2008 and aged 68 she divorced her fourth husband, Richard Palmer, who was 14 years her junior.

In later years, Welch continued to act occasionally, but also developed her own line of wigs, hair pieces and hair extensions.

She is survived by her son Damon Welch and her daughter Tahnee Welch.