Raquel Welch

Raquel Welch (1940–2023) was an American actress and model who became an international sex symbol after starring in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years B.C.

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One Million Years B.C.: A 1966 adventure film in which Raquel Welch played Loana, a prehistoric woman. Its fur-bikini poster made Welch an international sex symbol despite her limited dialogue.
Steve McQueen: An American actor known for films including The Great Escape and Bullitt. McQueen appeared with Welch in The Cincinnati Kid, one of her early film roles.
Sex symbol: A person widely regarded as embodying sexual attractiveness in popular culture. Welch’s image became a defining example of the category during the late 1960s.
Marilyn Monroe: An American actor and model who became a defining Hollywood sex symbol of the 1950s. Monroe’s earlier stardom provides a prominent precedent for Welch’s image-driven fame.
Fantastic Voyage: A 1966 science-fiction film about a crew miniaturized to operate inside a wounded scientist. Welch’s role as Cora Peterson helped establish her as a major screen presence.
Richard Lester: An American-born film director known for A Hard Day’s Night and The Three Musketeers. Lester directed Welch in the Musketeers films that brought her critical recognition.
Fur bikini: A costume made from animal hide and fur, popularized in modern media by a 1960s film image. The costume from One Million Years B.C. became inseparable from Welch’s public image.
Jayne Mansfield: An American actor and entertainer marketed as a Hollywood sex symbol in the 1950s. Mansfield’s publicity strategy invites comparison with the image Welch later sought to control.
The Three Musketeers: Richard Lester’s 1973 swashbuckling adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s novel. Welch won a Golden Globe for playing Constance Bonacieux.
James Welch: An American publicist and producer who was Raquel Welch’s second husband. He helped manage her career during the period when her fame expanded internationally.