BO DEREK Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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BO DEREK

Name: Bo Derek                                                                         
Birth name: Mary Cathleen Collins                                                     
Born: 20 November 1956 Long Beach, California                                         
                                                                                       
Bo Derek (born Mary Cathleen Collins on November 20, 1956, Long Beach,                 
California, U.S.) is a Golden Globe-nominated American film actress and model.         
                                                                                       
Derek is of Irish, German, Dutch and Welsh descent. Her father is Phil Collins,       
a Hobie Cat executive. Her mother is Norma Collins, hairdresser to Ann-Margaret.       
In addition to Derek, they had one son, Colin Bass, (born Colin Collins) bassist       
of the progrock band Camel, and two other daughters. After the parents divorced,       
Norma Collins married American stunt performer Bobby Bass                             
                                                                                       
Derek attended Narbonne High School in Harbor City, California, and graduated in       
1974.                                                                                 
                                                                                       
Derek started modelling to pay for a new surf board, and after a few shoots and       
a deodorant advert found she had a knack for performance. She got herself a           
Hollywood agent, and on the audition trail met director John Derek, 30 years her       
senior. John filed for divorce from his wife, actress Linda Evans, and the pair       
moved to Germany to avoid John being charged with statutory rape under U.S. law       
due to Bo only being 16. The couple returned to America soon after Bo's 18th           
birthday, and married in 1976. They remained married until his death in 1998.         
                                                                                       
Derek turned down a role in the film King Kong in (1976), making her first on         
screen performance in 1977's Orca: the Killer Whale, in which her character's         
leg was bitten off when the whale attacked her home on a pier.                         
                                                                                       
Derek first came to prominence when she co-starred in the 1979 Blake Edwards           
film 10, in which Dudley Moore's character is torn between his love for Julie         
Andrews and his fascination with Derek. Her appearance shot her to instant             
stardom and status as a sex symbol. Her beaded and plaited cornrow hairstyle in       
the film was widely copied and became eponymous. As a result of the film, Bo           
received a Golden Globe nomination for new star of the year, but lost out to           
Bette Midler for The Rose.                                                             
                                                                                       
Some of Bo Derek's subsequent films were not well-received by either the public       
or critics. For the 1981 film Tarzan, the Ape Man, the producers of the film           
were actually sued by the Edgar Rice Burroughs Estate over the name of the film,       
as Derek's role and physique seemed to overshadow the focus on Tarzan himself.         
She followed this film with the sexually charged Bolero and a subsequent role in       
her husband's production Ghosts Can't Do It.                                           
                                                                                       
She made the first of many appearances in Playboy, starting with the March 1980       
issue. Her first pictorial (among others) was photographed by then husband John,       
on a secluded beach along an unnamed area of the Colorado River. The twelve page       
spread featured a few with her and her pet greyhound together jogging and             
sunbathing, as well as her sailing and swimming in the river, all nude. She also       
made the cover (in a bikini).                                                         
                                                                                       
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". However, she has lately made a respectable showing as Jamie Kennedy's       
mom and Ryan O'Neal's wife in Malibu's Most Wanted (2003). In addition, she can       
be seen on TV in Fashion House playing one of the main characters, notorious           
fashion designer Maria Gianni. Derek was also chosen to be one of the judges in       
the 2006 Miss Universe pageant.                                                       
                                                                                       
Derek is a conservative Republican who supported George H.W. Bush in 1988 and         
1992 and campaigned for his son, George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and she             
appeared at both Republican conventions. She supported Rudolph W. Giuliani's           
abortive bid for the Republican nomination in 2008. Derek has also appeared           
at public events with Republican Congressman David Dreier of Southern California.     
                                                                                       
It is also rumored that Derek has dated White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten.       
When asked about the nature of their relationship on the April 30, 2006 edition       
of Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Bolten identified Derek as a "friend" and       
as a "strong supporter of the President." According to Wallace, when President         
Bush heard of their rumored relationship Bush teased Bolten that together he and       
Derek were a "15".                                                                     
                                                                                       
Bo Derek has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy           
Center for the Performing Arts by President George W. Bush.                           
                                                                                       
Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani skipped the debate on minority issues to         
attend a $2300-a-plate fundraiser at the Biltmore Four Seasons in Santa Barbara       
hosted by Bo Derek.