Bo Derek thrilled as a beach beauty in “Ten – The Dream Woman” – and suddenly became famous. Now she is celebrating her 65th birthday.
It’s about beauty, silky, shiny hair, clear eyes and a good smell. Bo Derek offers her specially developed special shampoos, also pomades and fine deodorants – everything for dogs. The woman, who used to drive many millions of men crazy, got on four-legged friends and now sells “Bo Derek’s Shampoo, Conditioner & Face Wash for Dogs Bundle”.
She was the classic ideal of beauty
Before – that was about 40 years ago, maybe even 35. Bo Derek was one of the most beautiful women in the world, a sex goddess. The dream woman par excellence. Not a lascivious nymph with rubber dinghy lips and bloated secondary sexual characteristics, because the big hour of cosmetic surgery had not yet struck back then.
Bo Derek presented, no, she was the classic ideal of beauty: sky-blue eyes, fine, almost antique facial features and a beautiful, originally feminine body, which she liked to show and often undisguised. Her sex appeal was never suggestive and just a tiny bit frivolous, rather sporty, fresh and American clean. Like the photos in “Playboy” at the time, with which she quickly became her favorite “Playmate”.
But now she wears a casual look, smart casual. A slim, athletic figure, gray chinos, a denim jacket, underneath a white T-shirt, closed to the neck. The hair long and blond, almost as before, the face almost unchanged, at best refined with fine wrinkles around the eyes and mouth, the same magical smile, the same eyes in radiant sky blue. You can’t tell that she will turn 65 on November 20th.
Fateful encounter with John Derek
Mary Cathleen Collins, as her real name is, is the daughter of a boat dealer and a hairdresser. In her hometown of Long Beach in Los Angeles County, California, she was noticed by a certain John Derek (1926-1998). In his leading role, he was a handsome Hollywood boy, had worked in the big sandal film “The Ten Commandments” (1956) and a few westerns and later rose to become the star of the B-Class.
John Derek had a flair for women with that certain something that could promise a solid half-life in Hollywood. Wife number one was Pati Behrs (1922-2004), a great niece of the Russian poet Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), wife number two was Ursula Andress (85), who in 1962 was the first Bond girl in “James Bond chases Dr. No “had electrified the world. Wife number three was the beautiful Linda Evans (79), later a main character in the cult series “Denver Clan” (1981-1989).
Then came Mary Cathleen Collins. She was 17, John Derek 48. Today that would be a case for various tribunals, if not for the US prosecutor, then Hollywood was electrified again. John Derek immediately divorced and married a fourth time. This is how Bo Derek was born.
She still feels guilty for taking her husband away from Linda Evans. “It breaks my heart to this day that I destroyed her love back then. I will never forgive myself for that, and I will always be sorry,” she said in the documentary “In my own words”. , 2020).
Unforgettable in “Ten – the dream woman”
Derek pushed and trimmed his young wife. In the very first film “Orca, the Killer Whale” (1977) she shot with the world stars Charlotte Rampling (75) and Richard Harris (1930-2002). In the second project she was already number one: “Ten – the dream woman” (1979). Since Bo largely played himself, mostly naked, which grossed $ 75 million for the film. The plot: She seduces a film composer to the sounds of Ravel’s “Bolero”.
If an elderly person can remember this work today, it is only because Bo Derek was the content. After all, she was nominated for her role as “Best Supporting Actress” for the Golden Globe, which Bette Midler (75) received for “The Rose” (1979).
Other films of similar content followed: “Seasons of a Marriage” (1980), “Fantasies” (1981), “Tarzan – Lord of the Jungle” (1981), “Ecstasy” (1984), “My mind always wants only one thing. .. “(1990). The initial enthusiasm had given way to disillusionment and then rejection. And with “Tarzan” the film critics celebrated a slaughter: John Derek, who directed his wife’s films, was awarded the anti-Oscar, the “Golden Raspberry”, as the “worst director”, Bo Derek received it as ” worst actress “. There was a hail of “golden raspberries” in all categories.
Incidentally, the “Golden Raspberry” in the category “worst actress of the 1980s” was also awarded to Bo Derek. Her husband then withdrew from the film business and worked as a photographer, also for Playboy “, for which he had photographed his wives Ursula Andress, Linda Evans and Bo Derek.
His fourth marriage lasted. It lasted 24 years until 1998, when John Derek died of a heart attack at the age of 72 and his beautiful wife was a widow.
Happy with “SATC” star John Corbett for 20 years
She dutifully made a movie every year, nothing big, comedies, TV series and horror films. She doesn’t really care about the limelight. She is committed to animal welfare, has dogs and horses, and rides a lot. She has been with the five years younger actor and “Sex and the City” star John Corbett (60) for 20 years. Last year, the two secretly married because Bo Derek still has a dream at 65: She wants to adopt a baby.
The couple recently watched Bo Derek’s old film “Traumfrau” as she walks along the beach with her blond Rasta locks and enchants the world. “Back then, a lot of black women praised me. They said I made their favorite hairstyle socially acceptable,” said Bo Derek in her documentary. She could no longer wear the hairstyle today, “there would be trouble because I would copy the style of Afro-American women. Today I would be a cultural vulture”.