Bo Derek Biography

Bo Derek (born Mary Cathleen Collins on November 20, 1956, Long Beach, California) is an American film actress and model of Irish, German and Dutch descent.

She was married to an actor 30 years older, John Derek, from 1974 until his death in 1998. They met during filming of a movie, and subsequently, John filed for divorce from his wife, actress Linda Evans.

She appeared in Orca: the Killer Whale (1977), in which her character's (Annie) leg was bitten off when the whale attacked her home on a pier.

Derek co-starred in the 1979 Blake Edwards film 10, in which she vied with a foul-mouthed Julie Andrews for Dudley Moore's attention. Her appearance in the popular sex farce shot her to instant stardom and status as a sex symbol, which may have had as much to do with her unusual hairstyle in the film (cornrows) as much as any acting talent.

Subsequent films have not been well-received by either the public or critics. The 1981 film Tarzan, the Ape Man was a disappointment. The producers of the film were actually sued by the Edgar Rice Burroughs Estate over the name of the film, since it focussed more on how many ways to disrobe Jane (Derek's role), than on Tarzan himself.

The sex-drenched Bolero (1984) essentially ended any possibility of a substantial film career. Her subsequent role in her husband's production Ghosts Can't Do It firmly cemented her reputation as a sex object.

Bolero and Tarzan, the Ape Man earned her the dubious honor of four Golden Raspberry Awards, as well as a nomination in 2000 as the "Worst Actress of the Century". Her most respectable showing was as Jamie Kennedy's mom and Ryan O'Neal's wife in Malibu's Most Wanted (2003).

On the bright side, she's an animal-rights activist.

She is also a conservative Republican who supported George H.W. Bush and campaigned for his son, George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004], and she appeared at both Republican conventions.

Currently, Derek lives with her boyfriend, actor John Corbett, in Seattle, Washington. She published her autobiography on February 5th, 2002 entitled "Riding Lessons, Everything I learned in life I learned from horses." She sells autographed copies on her website for US $50.00.

More:  An aspiring model, 16-year-old Bo Derek was introduced to actor/director/cinematographer John Derek in 1971. Just as he'd done with previous "protegés" Ursula Andress and Linda Evans, Derek literally molded her into a highly desirable superstar. In 1974, the 48-year-old Derek capped his makeover by marrying the 18-year-old Bo. In her first film, the Jaws rip-off Orca, Bo showed up long enough to have her lovely leg chewed off by a killer whale. Her next film was far more rewarding: Blake Edwards' 10 (1979), in which, bouncing along the beach in slow motion to the pulsating rhythms of Ravel's Bolero, the scantily clad, cornrow-coifed Bo became the instant object of star Dudley Moore's affections. An overnight pinup favorite, Bo followed her 10 triumph with a brace of adventure films directed by her husband: Tarzan the Ape Man (1981) and Bolero (1984). After six years away from films, she returned before the cameras in another Derek/Derek co-production, the unsuccessful Ghosts Can't Do It (1990). Bo Derek has since occasionally appeared in such films as the Italian Sognando La California (1991) and the American Woman of Desire (1994).