INTERNATIONAL sex symbol and Hollywood actress Raquel Welch’s death has left many fans reminiscing on her rise to fame.
Welch died Wednesday at 82, after four marriages, having been named one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History, and enduring an alleged snub from Playboy’s Hugh Hefner.
Before taking the world by storm in the 1960s over her break-out roles in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C., the actress was married to her high school sweetheart James Welch.
The two married in 1959, had two children, and ultimately divorced in 1964.
Two years later, Welch married producer Patrick Curtis – the couple divorced in 1972.
Later, in 1980, Welch entered her third marriage with French producer André Weinfeld.
They too divorced in 1990.
Welch’s fourth and final marriage was with producer and restauranter Richard “Richie” Palmer, who she married in 1999 and divorced in 2008.
While all of her marriages ultimately ended, Welch never regretted the relationships.
In 2015, the award-winning actress told Piers Morgan she had feelings for each of the men at the time she was with them.
“I had real feelings for all of those men,” Welch said.
“At the time I thought I was legitimately in love and that we could make a great life together, but it wasn’t in the cards.”
At the end of the day, she admitted she didn’t need a man to make her happy.
“I like what I do, I actually enjoy being me and I make a very good living at it and I’m happy. I don’t have to have a man,” Welch said.
Welch was viewed as an international sex symbol throughout her career – many thanks to the iconic deerskin bikini she wore in One Million Years B.C.
In a 1995 issue of Empire magazine, the actress was named one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History and was also ranked third in Playboy’s 100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th Century.
In her 2015 tell-all with Morgan, Welch claimed Playboy’s Hugh Hefner requested she pose for a photoshoot more than 50 times.
While she initially turned him down, she said she agreed to pose for the magazine in 1979 under one condition – no full nudity – according to the Daily Mail.
“I got called into the front office to speak with Hugh in his bathrobe,” Welch recalled.
“I went over to the mansion and I brought my lawyer with me and I sat there in front of him and I said, ‘What’s the problem, Hugh?’ and he said, ‘Well there’s no tits and there’s no ass’.
“I said, ‘Isn’t that the deal we made?’ He said ‘Yes, but it’s boring.'”
Playboy did not immediately respond to The U.S. Sun’s request for comment.
Welch appeared in dozens of films throughout her life including Fathom (1967), Myra Breckinridge (1970), Hannie Caulder (1971), and The Three Musketeers (1973), which won her the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical or Comedy.
Her cause of death has yet to be released.
She is survived by her two children Tahnee and Damon.
