Bo Derek (born Mary Cathleen Collins, November 20, 1956)[1] is an American actress and model. She is best known for her breakout role in the romantic comedy film 10 (1979). Her other credits include Richard Lang's A Change of Seasons (1980) and the ill-fated films Fantasies, Tarzan, the Ape Man (both 1981), Bolero (1984), and Ghosts Can't Do It (1989), all four of which were directed by her first husband, John Derek. Widowed in 1998, she married actor John Corbett in 2020.
Derek was born Mary Cathleen Collins in Long Beach, California. Her father, Paul Collins, was a Hobie Cat executive, and her mother, Norma (née White), was a make-up artist and hairdresser to Ann-Margret. Collins's parents divorced, and her mother remarried stunt performer Bobby Bass. She grew up with three siblings: two sisters and a brother.[2]
Well, I didn't really mean to quit. Well, what happened—I'll tell you what happened ... I went for like a month without going to school; I went to the beach, and I got caught ... So, then I started going back to school, and I was really enjoying it ... and then I went to go do this film with John in Greece...[3]
Career
Acting
While attending Narbonne High School at age 16 in 1973,[3] Collins auditioned for the female lead in John Derek'sOnce Upon a Love, a low-budget romantic drama film set in Greece. Although Derek had been considering Collins for the part, he felt that her naturally blonde hair was ill-suited to the character, whom he saw as a brunette. He nevertheless offered Collins the role on condition that she dye her hair darker.[2][4] Collins agreed and was added to the cast. During post-production in Munich, the film ran out of funding and was seized by a German film lab. It remained in a vault for several years until being sold to producer Kevin Casselman. Casselman's attempts to distribute the film globally prompted Derek and Collins to seek a restraining order against its release. They eventually dropped any legal action, deciding it was not worth their time and effort.[5][6] The film was finally released in 1981 under the new title Fantasies, at which point it received negative reviews.[6][7]
During the course of these events, Collins became sexually involved with John Derek, who was 30 years her senior and still married to actress Linda Evans. Upon his divorce from Evans, Derek moved to Germany with Collins, where he would not face prosecution under California's statutory rape laws because Collins was under the age of consent.[8]
In 1976, at the age of 19, Collins married John Derek. From then on, she was known professionally as Bo Derek: an amalgam of her former stage name Bo Shane[9] and married name Derek.[4]
In 1977, director Michael Anderson cast Derek in a small role in his horror film Orca - The Killer Whale, in which Derek's character has her leg bitten off by the title character.[10]
In 1979, Derek was selected over Melanie Griffith, Heather Thomas, Tanya Roberts, and several others for the role of Jenny Hanley in the romantic comedy film 10.[citation needed] Directed by Blake Edwards, the film starred Dudley Moore as a middle-aged man who finds Derek's character to be the ideal woman, i.e., a perfect 10. Derek's appearance in a dream sequence, running towards Moore in a tight-fitting, nude-colored one-piece swimsuit, launched her status as a mainstream sex symbol. Distinguished by Derek's cornrow hairstyle, the sequence has often been parodied. 10 was a critical and financial success.[11] For her performance in the film, Derek received a Golden Globe Award nomination for New Star of the Year but ended up losing to Bette Midler for her performance in The Rose.[12]
After 10, Derek was cast in Richard Lang's A Change of Seasons (1980), a dramatic-comedy film that also featured Shirley MacLaine and Anthony Hopkins. Derek played a college student who has an affair with her older, married professor. A Change of Seasons was only a moderate box-office success, with critics reviewing it and Derek's performance unfavorably ("The only appealing performance is Miss MacLaine's").[13]
In 1981, Derek starred in MGM's R-rated Tarzan, the Ape Man, her first leading role in a mainstream Hollywood film. Directed by John Derek, the film dealt little with Tarzan and instead focused on Derek's character, Jane Parker, and specifically on Derek's physical attributes. Derek appears nude in two scenes,[14] one of which involved her being bathed and body-painted. Ahead of Tarzan, the Ape Man's release, MGM and the film's distributor, United Artists, were sued for an injunction by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, which alleged that the film exceeded the scope of a 1931 license agreement ("1931 Agreement") that permitted MGM to use Tarzan and other Burroughs characters in the 1932 film Tarzan the Ape Man. The agreement stipulated that MGM could only produce remakes if the story of the 1932 film was maintained. Additionally, the Burroughs estate contended that MGM's character license under the deal was terminated in 1977, thereby constituting a violation of their copyright.[14] Upon reviewing the evidence, the Federal District Court in New York held that (1) while minor alterations were needed to tone down the explicit nature of Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981),[15] Derek's nudity had no significant impact on the film's narrative,[14] and (2) when reduced to their major incidents, both the 1981 film and its 1932 predecessor are "based on substantially the same story."[14] It was further concluded that MGM's character license had not been revoked due to the non-fulfillment of the legal prerequisites required for contract termination. Accordingly, the court ruled against the Burroughs estate and dismissed their injunction request.[14] Although Tarzan, the Ape Man received negative reviews, the film became a box-office success, making over $35 million in ticket sales and becoming the 15th highest-grossing film of 1981.[16] For her performance as Jane Parker, Derek shared the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress with Faye Dunaway, the latter for her starring role as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest.
Derek next appeared in the erotic comedy-drama film Bolero (1984). Directed again by John Derek, Bolero explores the female protagonist's sexual awakening and her journey around the world to find an ideal first lover to take her virginity. Its sexual nature and substantial use of nudity earned the film an X rating, which is traditionally reserved for pornographic or extremely violent horror films. Critical reviews for Bolero, including Derek's performance, were negative ("[Bo Derek] would be a lot more appealing if she tried less assiduously to please"),[17] and the film failed to recoup its production costs.[citation needed] For her performance in Bolero, Derek won her second Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. The film also took home five additional Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Director (John Derek), Worst Screenplay (John Derek), Worst New Star (Olivia d'Abo), and Worst Musical Score (Peter Bernstein and Elmer Bernstein).
In 1987, Derek teamed up with Steven Paul of the firm sales agency Paul Entertainment to sell the unreleased feature film A Knight of Love, in which she was set to star, but the project never materialized.[18]
After a five-year hiatus, Derek returned to feature films with the fantasy comedy-drama Ghosts Can't Do It (1989). The final collaboration of Derek with her husband as director, Ghosts Can't Do It was a failure both critically (a "cinematic abomination")[19] and financially.[20] Earning Derek her third Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress, the film also won three additional Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Picture, Worst Director (John Derek), and Worst Supporting Actor (Donald Trump).
Derek in 1998
Following Ghosts Can't Do It, Derek appeared in the television films Hot Chocolate (1992) and Shattered Image (1994) and the straight-to-video film Woman of Desire (1994). For her performance in the 1995 comedy film Tommy Boy, Derek was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress but ultimately lost to Madonna for her performance in Four Rooms.
In 1998, Derek guest-starred on four episodes of the television series Wind on Water. In 1999, she appeared on The Drew Carey Show.
In a 2020 interview with Variety, when asked who she was supporting in the then-upcoming presidential election, Derek explained, "I don't talk about who I vote for anymore. I supported Bush 43 and I became one of the poster girls for the Republicans. But I'm an independent. I don't want to be pigeonholed and labeled as one thing or another."[28] Recounting Donald Trump's cameo in 1989's Ghosts Can't Do It, Derek said that the part had been written specifically for him and that "he was great."[28]
Other work
In 1980, Derek appeared twice in Playboy magazine; she was featured again in 1981, 1984, and 1994.[29]
Derek was set to participate in the 2016 Comedy Centralroast of Rob Lowe,[30] but she was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict.[31]
Personal life
Horse owner and activist
A horse lover and riding enthusiast since childhood, Derek owns Andalusian horses and is a spokesperson for the Animal Welfare Institute's campaign to end horse slaughter through passage of federal and state legislation. On February 5, 2002, she published her autobiography entitled Riding Lessons: Everything That Matters in Life I Learned from Horses ( ISBN0-06-039437-4). Derek also serves on the California Horse Racing Board.
Wounded veterans advocate
Since 2001, Derek has acted as National Honorary Chairperson for Veterans Affairs' National Rehabilitation Special Events.[32] She is an avid supporter of the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Snowmass Village, Colorado.[33]
Derek's father, Paul Collins, was a radio operator during the Korean War. Her stepfather, Bobby Bass, and her late husband, John Derek, were both military veterans.[33]
Wild Aid
Derek has been active for 18 years with the environmental agency WildAid, which provides funds to protect sharks and dissuade people from purchasing wildlife products. On August 13, 2020, she was a guest on the Discovery Channel's Shark Week.[35][36]
After 16-year-old Bo began a relationship with John Derek, the couple moved to Germany, where John would not be subject to prosecution under California's statutory rape laws. They returned to the United States soon after Bo's 18th birthday and were wed in 1976. The Dereks remained married until John's death from heart failure in 1998.[37]
The following is an overview of events in 1984 in film, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies and festivals, a list of films released and notable deaths.
The Golden Raspberry Awards is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic failures. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, the Razzie Awards' satirical annual ceremony is preceded by its opposite, the Academy Awards, by four decades. The term raspberry is used in its irreverent sense, as in "blowing a raspberry". The statuette itself is a golf ball-sized raspberry atop a Super 8mm film reel atop a 35-millimeter film core with brown wood shelf paper glued and wrapped around it—sitting atop a jar lid spray-painted gold. The Golden Raspberry Foundation has claimed that the award "encourages well-known filmmakers and top-notch performers to own their bad."
Pia Zadora is an American actress and singer. She debuted a child actress on Broadway, in regional theater, and in the film Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964). She came to national attention in 1981 when, following her starring role in the highly criticized Butterfly, she won a Golden Globe Award as New Star of the Year while simultaneously winning the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress and the Worst New Star for the same performance.
Tarzan of the Apes is a 1912 novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the first in the Tarzan series. The story was first printed in the pulp magazine The All-Story in October 1912 before being released as a novel in June 1914.
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes is a 1984 adventure film directed by Hugh Hudson based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel Tarzan of the Apes (1912). Christopher Lambert stars as Tarzan and Andie MacDowell as Jane; the cast also includes Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, James Fox, Cheryl Campbell, and Ian Charleson.
John Derek was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He appeared in such films as Knock on Any Door, All the King's Men, Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950), and The Ten Commandments (1956). He discovered actress Bo Derek and she became his fourth wife.
Tarzan, the Ape Man is a 1981 American adventure film directed by John Derek and starring Bo Derek, Miles O'Keeffe, Richard Harris, and John Phillip Law. The screenplay by Tom Rowe and Gary Goddard is loosely based on the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, but from the point of view of Jane Parker.
Mommie Dearest is a 1981 American biographical psychological drama film directed by Frank Perry and starring Faye Dunaway, Steve Forrest, Mara Hobel, and Diana Scarwid, with supporting performances from Xander Berkeley in his feature film debut along with Rutanya Alda and Jocelyn Brando. Adapted from Christina Crawford's 1978 autobiography of the same name, the film follows her and her brother Christopher's upbringing under their adoptive mother, actress Joan Crawford, depicting her as abusive, controlling, and manipulative, prioritizing her Hollywood career over her family.
Tarzan the Ape Man is a 1932 pre-Code American action adventure film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan and starring Johnny Weissmuller, Neil Hamilton, C. Aubrey Smith and Maureen O'Sullivan. It was Weissmuller's first of 12 Tarzan films. O'Sullivan played Jane in six features between 1932 and 1942. The film is loosely based on Burroughs' 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, with the dialogue written by Ivor Novello. The film was directed by W.S. Van Dyke. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released two remakes of Tarzan, the Ape Man in 1959 and in 1981, but each was a different adaptation of Rice Burroughs' novel. It is also the first appearance of Tarzan's famous yell.
Ghosts Can't Do It is a 1989 romantic fantasy comedy film, the last film written and directed by John Derek, and starring Bo Derek and Anthony Quinn, with Julie Newmar and Leo Damian in supporting roles.
Bolero is a 1984 American romantic drama film written and directed by John Derek and starring Bo Derek. The film centers on the protagonist's sexual awakening and her journey around the world to pursue an ideal first lover who will take her virginity.
The Tarzan yell or Tarzan's jungle call is the distinctive, ululating yell of the character Tarzan as portrayed by actor Johnny Weissmuller in the films based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs starting with Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). The yell was a creation of the movies based on what Burroughs described in his books as simply "the victory cry of the bull ape."
Jane Porter is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Tarzan novels and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly film. Jane, an American from Baltimore, Maryland, is the daughter of professor Archimedes Q. Porter. She becomes the love interest, later the wife of Tarzan and subsequently the mother of their son, Korak. She develops over the course of the series from a conventional damsel in distress, who must be rescued from various perils, to an educated, competent and capable adventuress in her own right, fully capable of defending herself and surviving on her own in the jungles of Africa.
Tarzan Finds a Son! is a 1939 Tarzan film based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was the fourth in the MGM Tarzan series to feature Johnny Weissmuller as the "King of the Apes" and the fourth of six films in which he stars with Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane; following this pairing was Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) and Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942).
Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in twenty-four sequels by Burroughs and numerous more by other authors. The character proved immensely popular and quickly made the jump to other media, first and most notably to comics and film.
A Change of Seasons is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Richard Lang. It stars Anthony Hopkins, Shirley MacLaine and Bo Derek. The film was a critical and commercial failure, grossing $7.2 million against its $6 million budget and receiving three nominations at the 1st Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Actor (Hopkins) and Worst Screenplay.
Tarzan and the Lost Safari is a 1957 action adventure film featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan and starring Gordon Scott, Robert Beatty, Yolande Donlan and Betta St. John. Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, it was the first Tarzan film released in color, Eastman Color. The nineteenth film of the Tarzan film series that began with 1932's Tarzan the Ape Man and the first produced by MGM since 1942, it was filmed in Nairobi, British East Africa. The character of Jane does not appear in this motion picture. Released April 12, 1957, it was followed by Tarzan and the Trappers in 1958.
Tarzan the Fearless is a 12 chapter American Pre-Code film serial starring Buster Crabbe in his only appearance as Tarzan. It was also released as a 61-minute feature film which consisted of the first four chapters edited together, and which was intended to be followed on a weekly basis by the last eight chapters in individual episode format, but which was often exhibited instead as a stand-alone feature film. Actress Jacqueline Wells co-starred; she later changed her name to Julie Bishop. The serial was produced by Sol Lesser, written by Basil Dickey, George Plympton and Walter Anthony, and directed by Robert F. Hill. The film was released in both formats on August 11, 1933.
Tarzan is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer.
Tarzan is a 2013 English-language German computer-animated action-adventure film written, directed and produced by Reinhard Klooss and released on October 17, 2013 in Russia. The film was released across early 2014 in other countries. The film stars the voices of Kellan Lutz, Spencer Locke, Anton Zetterholm, Mark Deklin, Joe Cappelletti, and Jaime Ray Newman. The screenplay was written by Reinhard Klooss, Jessica Postigo and Yoni Brenner. The film is based on the novel Tarzan of the Apes (1912) by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film grossed $44 million worldwide despite receiving predominantly negative reviews from critics. Tarzan was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 5, 2014 by Highlight Film.
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