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Bo Derek

Bo Derek’s screen career is inseparable from a single, instantly recognizable entrance. Born Mary Cathleen Collins in Long Beach, California, on November 20, 1956, she began acting as a teenager and adopted the professional name Bo Derek after marrying director John Derek in 1976. Her first released feature appearance came in Michael Anderson’s Orca: The Killer Whale in 1977, but 10 made her a major public figure two years later. Blake Edwards’s romantic comedy cast her as Jenny Hanley, the idealized woman who becomes the focus of Dudley Moore’s fixation. Derek’s slow-motion beach sequence and cornrow hairstyle became enduring pieces of popular culture, frequently copied and parodied. The film was a critical and financial success, and her performance brought a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year – Actress. Derek followed 10 with A Change of Seasons, appearing alongside Shirley MacLaine and Anthony Hopkins, before taking her first mainstream Hollywood lead as Jane Parker in Tarzan, the Ape Man. Directed by John Derek, the 1981 adventure received poor reviews but performed strongly at the box office. Their later collaborations, Bolero and Ghosts Can’t Do It, drew similarly harsh critical responses and multiple Golden Raspberry Awards. Her career subsequently moved between feature films and television. Derek appeared in Woman of Desire and played Beverly Barish in the 1995 comedy Tommy Boy. During the early 2000s, her films included Frozen with Fear, The Master of Disguise and Malibu’s Most Wanted, while her television work ranged across guest appearances and a 40-episode role in Fashion House. She later appeared in CSI: Miami and the made-for-television disaster comedy Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! Also associated with modeling, producing and autobiographical writing, Derek has worked across several corners of the entertainment business. Yet her place in movie culture remains defined above all by 10—a performance and image that quickly escaped the film itself and became part of the wider pop-culture vocabulary.