John Derek (August 12, 1926 - May 22, 1998) was an American actor, director and photographer. He appeared in such films as Knock on Any Door, All the King's Men, and Rogues of Sherwood Forest. He later became known for marrying glamorous starlets and for launching the career of his fourth wife, Bo Derek.

Early life

Derek was born Derek Delevan Harris in Hollywood, California, the son of actor/director Lawson Harris and actress Dolores Johnson. His striking good looks were noticed, and he was being groomed for a movie career by both David O. Selznick and his agent Henry Willson (who gave him the temporary screen name of 'Dare Harris') when he was drafted in 1944 into the United States Army, and saw service in the Philippines during the last days of World War II.

Film career

After the war, Derek approached Humphrey Bogart, who renamed him John Derek and cast him as Nick (Pretty Boy) Romano, an unregenerate killer, in Knock on Any Door (1949), a socially conscious 1949 melodrama. Derek was recognized as a talented newcomer, "plainly an idol for the girls," as Bosley Crowther put it in a review for The New York Times.

Derek followed that picture with a supporting role as the son of Broderick Crawford in All the King's Men (1949), the Best Picture Oscar winner for its year. He played leads in Fury at Showdown, and as Robin Hood in Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950) with Alan Hale. He also appeared as Joshua in The Ten Commandments (1956). But he found himself featured increasingly as a hero or villain in a string of unimpressive B-movies—crime melodramas, westerns, pirate pictures and costume dramas.

Unsatisfied with his career as an actor, Derek turned to film directing. He directed his second wife Ursula Andress in two films, and third wife Linda Evans in one. He also worked as a director of four films with fourth wife, Bo Derek including Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981) and Bolero (1984). Ghosts Can't Do It (1990) was his last in the director's chair. An accomplished photographer, Derek photographed the last three of his four wives (at different times) for nude spreads in Playboy magazine.

Derek directed the music videos for Shania Twain's "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" and "Any Man of Mine."

Personal life

Derek married Russian-born prima ballerina Pati Behrs Eristoff in 1948. They had a son, Russell Andre (1950-1999), who was paralyzed in a 1969 motorcycle accident, and a daughter, Sean Catherine (born 1953), who later wrote a memoir titled Cast of Characters, published in 1982, about their dysfunctional relationship. Derek walked out on his wife and family in 1955 after meeting 19-year-old aspiring Swiss actress Ursula Andress, who spoke almost no English when they met. In 1957, after finalizing his divorce from Behrs, he married Andress in a quickie Las Vegas ceremony, but she left him in 1965 for French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo. Derek subsequently became involved with American actress Linda Evans, at the time a television star on The Big Valley, who reduced her appearances on the show to spend more time with him, and financed his alimony and child support payments to Behrs, as he had quit acting by then to pursue photography and directing. They married in Mexico in 1968, with Sean as a witness. In 1973 Derek, Evans and 16-year-old high school dropout Mary Cathleen Collins traveled to the Greek island of Mykonos to make the film And Once Upon a Time (unreleased until 1981, under the title Fantasies). During filming, Derek and Collins began an affair. Evans returned to the states and filed for divorce in 1974, but Derek and Collins stayed in Europe until she turned 18 in November of that year, in order to avoid statutory rape charges. Collins became known to the public as Bo Derek following their marriage on June 10, 1976 in Las Vegas and achieved international fame in 1979 with her role in the Blake Edwards film 10. The couple remained together until John died in 1998.

Death

John Derek died from cardiovascular disease in Santa Maria, California at the age of 71. His remains were cremated.

Filmography

As actor

Features:

• Since You Went Away (1944)
• I'll Be Seeing You (1944)
• A Double Life (1947)
• Knock on Any Door (1949)
• All the King's Men (1949)
• Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950)
• Mask of the Avenger (1951)
• Saturday's Hero (1951)
• The Family Secret (1951)
• Scandal Sheet (1952)
• Thunderbirds (1952)
• Prince of Pirates (1953)
• Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
• The Last Posse (1953)
• Mission Over Korea (1953)
• Sea of Lost Ships (1954)
• The Outcast (1954)
• The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954)
• Prince of Players (1955)
• An Annapolis Story (1955)
• Run for Cover (1955)
• The Leather Saint (1956)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• Pirate of the Half Moon (1957)
• Fury at Showdown (1957)
• The Flesh Is Weak (1957)
• Omar Khayyam (1957)
• High Hell (1958)
• Prisoner of the Volga (1959)
• Exodus (1960)
• Nightmare in the Sun (1965)
• Once Before I Die (1966)

Short Subjects:

• The Nest (1943)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards (1951)
• Screen Snapshots: Meet Mr. Rhythm, Frankie Laine (1952)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Mr. Movies (1952)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Stars to Remember (1954)

As director

• Nightmare in the Sun (1965)
• Once Before I Die (1966)
• A Boy... a Girl (1969)
• Childish Things (1969)
• Love You (1979)
• Fantasies (1981)
• Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981)
• Bolero (1984)
• Ghosts Can't Do It (1990)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]