(CNN) Raquel Welch, a veteran actress who rose to fame in the 1960s films ‘One Million Years BC’ and ‘Fantastic Voyage,’ has died, according to a statement from her manager Steve Sauer.
She was 82.
Welch died in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning after a “brief illness,” the statement said.
The actress, with more than 70 film and television appearances, began as a voice actress on a variety show Hollywood Palace and had a small role in the 1964 Elvis Presley film Roustabout.
Her career took off two years later with the release of the sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage, about a team of scientists who were shrunk and injected into the body of a seriously ill man; and One Million Years, BC, a prehistoric drama in which Welch played the cavewoman Loana, with photos of her in a fur bikini forming the basis of the film’s marketing campaign and establishing Welch as an international sex symbol. (The poster later became a central device in the acclaimed film The Shawshank Redemption.)
A string of starring roles followed for Welch in the late 1960s, including the westerns Bandolero and 100 Rifles, the latter notable for its then controversial interracial love scene with former soccer star Jim Brown.
Welch is survived by her two children, son Damon Welch and daughter Tahnee Welch, according to her manager.
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CNN’s Brian Lowry contributed to this report.