Bo Derek

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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). ~ Hal Erickson Full Biography »