The US actor and 1960s pinup died at 82yo after a “brief illness”, her manager confirmed yesterday. Born Jo Raquel Tejada to a Bolivian father and American mother, the Californian beauty was convinced to adopt her husband’s surname to avoid racial typecasting. With more than 70 film and TV credits to her name over a 5-decade-long career, Welch rose to fame in the 1966 sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage – but it was her role as a scantily-clad cavewoman in One Million Years BC – and the film’s famous poster – that shot her to superstardom. Her good looks saw her regularly dismissed by film critics until she won a Golden Globe for her performance in 1973’s The Three Musketeers, and her Broadway debut in 1981 was a hit. And in her later years, she had guest appearances in the likes of The Muppet Show, Seinfeld and Legally Blonde. Reese Witherspoon led the tributes, calling Welch “glamorous beyond belief”.