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| Birth Name(s) : Mary Cathleen Collins |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Bo Derek Biography
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. She 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 US 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 is currently supporting Rudolph W. Giuliani for president. 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.
Derek lives on a ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley, California, that she originally bought with John Derek; with her sister, her sister's husband. and their two children.
A horse lover and riding enthusiast since childhood, she is the owner of Iberian horses and is a Spokesperson for the Animal Welfare Institute's national campaign to end horse slaughter through passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. On February 5, 2002, she published her autobiography entitled Riding Lessons, Everything that matters in life I learned from horses (ISBN 0-060-39437-4).
Bo was spotted with F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone in the Pit Lane at the 2007 Formula One Turkish Grand Prix and was interviewed by Peter Windsor to whom she spoke of her love of Formula One racing. |
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