(ABC) – Raquel Welch, actress and pinup starlet, has died. According to a rep, “The legendary bombshell actress of film, television and stage, passed away peacefully early this morning after a brief illness.” Born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago in 1940, Welch was a beauty pageant winner in her youth, before stepping in front of the camera to briefly work as a weather person at a San Diego TV station. Her big break came in the form of three words of dialogue – but particularly a fur bikini – in the 1966 campy film One Million Years B.C. Welch also appeared that year in the science fiction film Fantastic Voyage. (Photo: ABC)