DLNews Entertainment:

The world has lost one of the most significant sex symbols of the 20th century.

Raquel Welch († 82) is dead. The actress died Wednesday morning after a "brief illness," said her management. In social networks, stars say goodbye to Hollywood beauty.

"So sad to hear of Raquel Welch's death," actress Reese Witherspoon (46) tweeted. She loved being in front of the camera with Welch in Legally Blonde (2001). "She was elegant, professional and incredibly glamorous. Simply stunning, simply gorgeous. May all her angels carry her home?"

Actor Antonio Banderas (62) posted four photos of Welch on Twitter with a black heart emoji. "Rest in peace," wrote the Spaniard.

Raquel Welch in Paris in 1970

Actress and comedian Sandra Bernhard (67) wrote: "A unique beauty who spread her great charisma wherever she appeared."

Welch was THE sex symbol in Hollywood in the 1960s. In 1995, Empire magazine named her one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in Motion Picture History." In Playboy, she took third place in the "100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th Century".

She owed the title mainly to her role in the 1966 film "One Million Years B.C." In it, she showed herself in a skimpy bikini made of deerskin. She also landed on the film poster in the outfit and became a sex symbol overnight at 26.

She was considered a Hollywood beauty: Raquel Welch in the movie "A Million Years Before Time" (1966)

"The release of this famous movie poster changed everything in my life in one fell swoop," Welch later wrote in her memoir.

"We are saddened to hear of the passing of legendary actress Raquel Welch," wrote the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation of the late producer and animator Ray Harryhausen († 92) on Twitter.

"An iconic role that spawned one of the most iconic movie posters of all time," the tweet read. "Our thoughts are with her family at this sad time."

During her career, Welch has worked with Hollywood greats such as James Stewart ("Bandolero"), Frank Sinatra ("Lady in Cement"), John Huston ("Myra Breckinridge") and Burt Reynolds ("The Walking Dead").

She was twice nominated for a Golden Globe and won the prestigious award in the musical/comedy category in 1975 for her performance in The Three Musketeers, starring Faye Dunaway and Charlton Heston.

Raquel Welch and Richie Palmer at a film premiere in 1999

Welch was married four times and divorced four times. Her first marriage has two children, a son Damon and a daughter Tahnee.