It's the doeskin bikini that launched a more than 40-year career. This image from One Million Years B.C. turned Raquel Welch into an international sex symbol. Its appeal still rings true today—the poster was featured prominently in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption.
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Raquel Welch at a Royal Film performance on March 14, 1966.
Photo: © Sunset Boulevard/Corbis
Raquel Welch poses for a photo sometime between 1968 and 1970.
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Raquel Welch nearly bares it all in this 1970 photo.
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Raquel Welch on a balcony overlooking a street in London in 1970.
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Raquel Welch addresses the media on February 4, 1976.
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Raquel Welch arrives at a function, circa 1985.
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Raquel Welch arrives for a concert at Lincoln Center in New York City on April 25, 1988.
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Raquel Welch waves to photographers and fans as she sits in front of her newly unveiled star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on June 8, 1996, in Hollywood, California.
Photo: Carlos Alvarez/Newsmakers
Actress Raquel Welch arrives at the closing ceremony of the second international film festival of Gran Canary March 31, 2001, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Welch was on these Islands in 1966 for the filming of her movie One Million Years B.C.
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Raquel Welch arrives to the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 16, 2005, in Beverly Hills, California.
Raquel Welch appears on
The Oprah Winfrey Show on March 29, 2010, to discuss aging brilliantly.
See what she had to say about menopause, motherhood and more!
