John Derek

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, but was probably best known for marrying glamorous starlets and for launching the meteoric career of his last 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 got him attention in the film capital, and he was being groomed for a movie career by David O. Selznick when he was drafted in 1944, and saw service in the Philippines during the last days of World War II.

Movie 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, 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, the Best Picture Oscar winner of 1949. 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 second wife Ursula Andress in two movies, and third wifeLinda Evans in one. But his best known work as a director are the films he made with fourth wife, Bo Derek (she appeared in four of his movies). The 1990 film Ghosts Can't Do It 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.

Personal life 

Derek was first married to actress Pati Behrs, née Pati Behrs Eristoff (February 13, 1922 — July 10, 2004). She was a Russian-born American actress, and a grandniece of Leo Tolstoy. She was married to Derek from 1951-57. They had two children together, Russell and Sean Catherine Derek.

Spouses

with Debra Paget in The Ten Commandments (1956)

John Derek and Bo Derek with Chandran Rutnam.

• Pati Behrs (1951–1957)
• Ursula Andress (1957–1966)
• Linda Evans (1968–1974)
• Bo Derek (1976–1998)

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 (1980)
• Fantasies (1981) (filmed in 1973)
• Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981)
• Bolero (1984)
• Ghosts Can't Do It (1990)