John Derek

His ex-wives adored him and stayed in touch. I think that says a lot.

Was he a great talent? not really. Was his gorgeous? Totally.

They should make a movie about him and his penchant for "manufacturing" his blonde wives. He's like Vadim in that respect.

I was always a little creeped out about how all his wives looked eerily similar and then they were all best friends. It was like a cult.

Exactly, R3. As a child I imagined they were fembots and he was their kinky overlord

Was he not ambitious? His career as an actor didn't get very far in spite of unearthly good looks and as much tallent as the next guy.

The young John Derek reminds me of the young Warren Beatty; they both didn't want to be typed as romantic beautiful boy toys.

I see alot of the cult-leader personality in John Derek. He wasn't angry and dangerous, so he didn't pursue a world of slaves that would do his bidding. he was more like Henry Miller, who saw himself as the Apollo of his own personal sex harem.

But those three women have never said anything derogatory or bitter about him. Andress, Evans and Bo loved him to a real 60s free-love degree.

I think it's weird how Linda Evans went from looking like a more mature Bo Derek to an aging Ursula Andress.

I was amused that he allegedly quit acting because he didn't consider it a "manly" profession for a mature, "masculine" man.

What does Ursala and Harry Hamlin's kid look like? How's his nipple placement?

I actually met him when I was a kid. His then wife Bo was making a movie in my town. They filmed in front of my house and he was with her. I was 12 and couldn't look him in the eyes. All my friends were making a big deal about Bo...but I was completely blown away by John. I should have known then...it took my another 6 years to figure It out.

But if you look at the few films he made, he was often lit and photographed like an ethereal pin-up queen. No wonder he didn't consider acting masculine.

He was very Alain Delonish.

He was unforgettable chained spread-eagle and stripped to the waist in The Ten Commandments.

I always love watching Vincent Price practically drooling over Derek as he flogs him in The Ten Commandments.

Ahahahahahahahahaha

Dimitri Alexandre Hamlin at link - looks like an erotic blend of his mother and father.

Dimitri Hamlin does blog work for the Huffington Post:

John with his first wife, Russian prima ballerina Pati Behrs, and their sons, Russell and Sean.

Derek bump

His daughter Sean was gorgeous- and 3 years older than Bo.

His son lost his legs in a motorcycle accident, and they were estranged.

He did a movie called Saturday's Hero where he plays a college football player. He was hot in it! The movie is (or was) on youtube.

"They should make a movie about him and his penchant for "manufacturing" his blonde wives. "

Yes, and I hope David Lynch agrees to direct. Or David Cronenberg, or John Waters.

John Derek was actually first discovered by Kenneth Anger.

They made a film together that (Anger claims) Derek refuses to allow to be shown publicly.

My mother had a major crush on John Derek in the late 1950s, and I was named after him. I was born in 1960.

American women have long named babies after pop vulture references.

According to Wiki, it was Humphrey Bogart, who costarred with him in Derek's first film Knock on Any Door, who suggested the name chang from Derek Harris to John Derek.

Derek's only films of any note as an actor were that debut film and then the 1949 Oscar-wining Best Film All the King's Men as Broderick Crawford's son and 1956's The Ten Commandments as Joshua, very much a supporting role.

He quickly got typed as just a pretty boy (Pretty Boy was even his character's nickname in Knock on Any Door, he didn't stand a chance!) and all of his other films were distinctly inferior B pictures.

[quote]Ursula Undress

Mad Magazine, 1969.

I don't know what he lived on, unless it was the wive's money. There wasn't much gap between wives.

John Derek directed a film titled A BOY, A GIRL starring Dean Martin's son Dino. It was never released in theaters & probably never on DVD or VHS. Rumor has it Dino's father bought it outright & had it destroyed as it contained nudity & controversial footage. Does anybody have any news on this film? Photo stills have appeared in magazines of this film.

I first heard of him on a GOLDEN GIRLS episode where Blanche's father is remarrying a woman 30 years his junior. Dorothy tries to comfort Blanche:

"Why are you getting so upset, Blanche? You see older men with younger women all the time. I mean, it's very common. Look at John Derek and Ursula Andress... John Derek and Linda Evans... John Derek and Bo Derek... You know, maybe it's not so common. Maybe it's just one guy." haha

He was immensely fuckable.

He was unbelievably fucakble.

His wives all looked alike because he obviously preferred one type of woman; blonde and blue-eyed, classically beautiful. They all seemed to have the same personality type, too; all passive and easy to get along with. They all seemed to know the score and I guess they saw no need for jealousy or animosity.

Didn't he talk Linda Evan into having some facial surgery when she was married to him. Her face definitely changes a bit during the run of Big Valley. I also read somewhere (although I think it might have been here) that he wanted her home more during the series, and that is why she was seen less in later seasons.

I think John was the passive one (passive-aggressive?). The women brought home the bacon. I remember when he said his women always carried the money- he didn't carry a wallet. And he had Bo producing some of her movies.

I bet he wished he had Linda back afer she started raking in all that Dynasty money!

While Linda and Bo might have been considered the same type of blue-eyed blondes, I would never lump Ursula in with them.

She was truly extraordinary looking, not merely beautiful. Rather unreal, actually. And I would never term her persona as "passive" either.

I saw the latest airing of "Knock On Any Door" because I wanted to see him at the end. There's supposed to be a close-up of his eyes. It wasn't there.

The Derek ladies all in a row. The non blonde one is John's daughter from his first marriage.

[quote] They made a film together that (Anger claims) Derek refuses to allow to be shown publicly.

Well, since Derek's been dead since '95, that's a pretty neat trick.

R36, Linda, Ursula, and Bo look eerily similar when placed together. Same face. What was the purpose of that reunion?

Wow. He was beautiful for sure. See him in Scandal Sheet (1955) an excellent movie and Derek at his most jaw-dropping. Here's a publicity shot of Mr Derek:

sure he was hot when he was young. but i thought he was so fucking sexy as an older silver daddy.

Stunning man but suspect human being.

Linda Evans talks John's appeal here. John was rather superficial to leave this beautiful, sensitive woman for that lookalike twit:

My mom saw him in Vegas, airport I think. She gushed about how gorgeous he was. Of course she thinks Derek Hough is "so cute". She kind of likes the twinkie looking pretty boys. He's just does not look manly enough for me.

John Derek had an athletic build and the most beautiful face. What more could you want in a man?

John Derek was born the same year as Marilyn Monroe, so he was her direct contemporary. She has become truly iconic and yet John was, without a doubt, her male counterpart. Had he wanted to be a star, he would have been one, Warhol would have used his image and we'd be talking today about him in the same breath as Brando and Dean. Here are the young Derek and Monroe in a publicity shot of promising stars of the 1950s:

Bogie & Bacall fawning over Derek:

The dog looks like he sees right through him R46

Who else is in that great photo? I recognize Marilyn, John, Tony Curtis and I think Patrice Wymore in white.

But who are the other 2 ladies?

And did they know that Marilyn got the best dress?

Derek did direct an actual hardcore porn in 79 called "Love You!" starring established porn stars including Wade Nichols/Dennis Parker "Edge Of Night Star".

You are right, r48, that is Patrice Wymore, who is still with us at 87, and I thought the cute one in the back looked like Leslie Caron, also still with us at 82, and it turns out I was right. It is Leslie.

The shocker is the lady in front as it turns out to be the one and only Mitzi Gaynor.

Patrice went on to marry Errol Flynn.

Of course, Mitzi is still with us at 82 too.

Fortunately, John Derek never laid eyes on the young Lynn Herring (Lucy from General Hospital) because if he had, Bo would have got her marching orders.

His IMDB is odd. He more or less quit acting in the 60's, but then he pops up in a couple made for TV things in the 1990's. He was "Barman Pub No. 2" in something called Flair and "Trainer" on a series called Janus.

I assume both were basically glorified extra roles. Did he need the money that badly?

John Derek also directed Shania Twain in this video and crafted her image. Of course, she wasn't the Ursula/Linda/Bo type so I'm sure it was just professional:

[quote]Oldie: "John and Bo Derek teach Shania to count to 10" by George Emerson

John Derek is the sixty-nine-year-old director of Bolero and Ghosts Can't Do It, both of which are classified as "soft porn" by The Film Encyclopedia. But today he is in the kitchen of the faux-Mediterranean villa on his ranch in Santa Ynez, California, almost apologizing for having made a country-and-western video. "I'm not into country music," insists Derek. He blames his wife, Bo, for taking him into shooting "this ****" -- a little number starring the Canadian country singer Shania Twain.

The video was for the song "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" from Twain's breakthrough album The Woman in Me. It features a shot of the singer strutting into a country diner and testing the seams of her scarlet evening dress. For the next few minutes, she flounces onto tabletops and into the occasional cowboy's lap, but attracts no notice from the ranch hands, who are intent on eating their breakfasts.

In reality, says Derek, the cowboys -- all locals who frequent the Long Horn diner near his ranch -- "were in high cotton. They couldn't believe it, with her rubbing against them, and dancing at their table, and singing to them."

Not everyone likes the video, however. "She's the highest-paid lap dancer in America," scoffed Nashville star Steve Earle.

But some scoffing is inevitable when an album sells almost 6-million units, and Derek seems unperturbed. "Everybody needs help," he says. "I mean, Christ, you know, if God came down we'd have to help Him, too -- visually, I mean."

Later in the conversation, Derek up-grades the Twain video to "sort of sweet and sort of silly." It helped, he says, to use a lot of young people: "They weren't hard men. They were sort of, ah, budding, budding young guys."

He steps away to buzz his wife through the ranch's security gate. In a moment, Bo, star of 10 and producer of the Twain video, glides into the kitchen. She professes admiration for Twain, "especially for hanging in with John, 'cause he's not easy. He's very opinionated, outspoken, and tough."

Tough at first, maybe, but now downright complimentary. Twain, he allows, has something. "I mean obviously she has it. It can't be just her goddamn singing and wiggling around."

Saturday Night Magazine 1996

r33, Linda has been very smart with her money investment-wise. JC has always had to work because she was very extravagant with her earnings. Evans is no fool. She doesn't have to work anymore. She set herself for life.

I wonder if Ursula and Bo are similar in that respect?

r45, those are nice sentiments but reality plays a large part in the building of a myth. Monroe had something that went beyond the masses; Derek was a pretty face with not alot of talent. Pretty faces get you in the door, but something keeps you in the room.

[quote]Fortunately, John Derek never laid eyes on the young Lynn Herring (Lucy from General Hospital) because if he had, Bo would have got her marching orders.

On what planet do you live on where Lynn Herring is anywhere in the league of Bo Derek?

Who are the other women in r45's photo?

r52 = Wayne Northrop, who forgot his anniversary and is hoping a DL entry will make up for it.

Obviously, you guys have no idea what Bo Derek looked like before she met John. He saw something in her and just thank god he didn't make Lynn Herring into a similar 'mannequin' because she had ALL the attributes that he adored.

r57, you're forgetting that John Derek had no ambition to be a star. Whatsoever. If he'd wanted it, like Marilyn wanted it, he would have got it and then some.

Out-take of the group shot. Marilyn stands at the forefront, I wonder if John thought she was beautiful since she was a more traditional archetype of femininity.

Geeze, r59, all you have to do is scroll up to r50 for the answer.

Funny that Marilyn went on to make two screen classics with Mitzi ("There's No Business Like Show Business") and Tony ("Some Like It Hot.")

He was short--notice him compared to the rest of the men in The Ten Commandments.

Bogart was a shorty, too.

He wasn't hot either.

Shirley Temple's brief teenage acquaintance with Derek described at the link:

I agree with r63.

Derek clearly became very uncomfortable in front of the camera and didn't really want to be a movie star.

Maybe he wasn't ever going to be the male equivalent of Monroe but his career certainly could have gone further with some ambition and willingness to "put out."

He must have had droves of gay men in Hollywood letching after him and with looks like his, he knew he'd always be cast for just being pretty. And he probably knew, as well as anyone, he didn't have any particularly special talents for acting.

r66, is it the pretty eyelashes that put you off?

Here's John in "The Outcast" of 1954, I defy you to name a more beautiful man of the screen:

R70, Tony Curtis on screen at the same time was incredibly hot. Very dark hair and mesmerizing blue eyes.

R70 here's my beauty.. Oskar Werner, but then I'm rather partial to the intellectual, brooding Euro type. Those who drink themselves to death.

He was a swinger right? He did borderline pornos and hired Annette Haven for one. Annette was always praising John and her "bff" Bo. Bo Derek was a rumored prostitute, is bisexual and was in an open relationship that had her jumping in and out of bed with John and Annette.

[quote]He was a swinger right? He did borderline pornos and hired Annette Haven for one. Annette was always praising John and her "bff" Bo. Bo Derek was a rumored prostitute, is bisexual and was in an open relationship that had her jumping in and out of bed with John and Annette.

Bo was only sixteen when they met, and was with him for 22 years until his death. She has been with John Corbett of "Sex & The City" for 11 years now. She wasn't a hooker. And as stated above, the Annette Haven film was full hardcore.

Bo has been rumored as an underage prostitute from day one, and for years she was known as bi -- including making several bisexual lists when she was hot such as The Gossip Columnist. And why would her relationship with John Corbett discount her bisexuality?

Here was their list of bisexuals/lesbians, for those interested:

BARBARA STANWYCK ANGIE DICKINSON JUNE ALLYSON CLEO MOORE JANET LEIGH ELKE SOMMER MacKENZIE PHILLIPS CAROL BURNETT POLLY BERGEN THELMA RITTER LOLA FOLANA JANE RUSSELL DONNA SUMMER (DENIES IT) BIANCA JAGGER GAIL RUSSELL CHER JEAN PETERS LINDA HAYNES KRISTY McNICHOLS AVA GARDNER DEBBIE REYNOLDS AGNES MOOREHEAD PENNY MARSHALL MARIE WILSON JUDY GARLAND JULIE CHRISTIE LILY TOMLIN GALE STORM SENTA BERGER LORETTA SWIT BETTY WHITE LAUREN BACALL JOAN BLONDELL MARILYN MONROE JULIE ANDREWS JANE FONDA JOAN BAEZ LIZ SCOTT LESLIE CARON JOAN CRAWFORD DIANE VARSI LYNN FONTAINE MARIA MONTEZ URSULA ANDRESS ROSALIND RUSSELL DEBRA PAGET KIM NOVAK KATE JACKSON BO DEREK BOBBIE GENTRY TALLULAH BANKHEAD LIZA MINNELLI FRANCIS FARMER LYNN BARI MARILYN MAXWELL BRIGITTE BARDOT MARIA SCHNEIDER CAROL LYNLEY NATALIE WOOD ANNETTE FUNICELLO ANNE FRANCIS STELLA STEVENS VIVIAN BLAINE SUSAN STRASBERG CAPUCINE VERONICA LAKE CORRINE CALVET BARBARA NICHOLS EVE PLUMB

Verificatia of size meat?

Don't know if anyone else has read that excerpt from Shirley Temple's autobiography Child Star at r67, in which she talks about her early relationship with John Derek, but is her book really that frank throughout?

I don't remember the book causing much interest went it was published. Anyone read the whole thing?

I was on a shoot with a woman that had a somewhat salacious but not surprising story about Corbett. She said he came onto her for days on set while Bo was hanging around (I believe her, she was extremely attractive). She kept turning him down then decided to ask him why he was disrespecting his gf so brazenly. His reply was that they didn't have "that kind of relationship" and that she could be "for Bo too" if she wanted. After that Bo started approaching her instead of John. She said she continued to turn them down but I don't know if I believe. She was single and talked way too much about how attractive they both were.

John Derek must have been under contract to David O. Selznick at around the same time as Guy Madison and Farley Granger.

That's quite a stable of beautiful young hotties!

Here's Linda Evans on The Big Valley, around the time she was first with John. He obviously encouraged her away from this look. She looks fuller here, less of an Amazonian:

Romantic shot of John and Linda, from her memoir:

In depth blog post about John, with loads of striking images:

Jeez, these women were fucking stupid.

I can see from the pics in r82's link why he didn't make it as a leading man. He looked small and excessively boyish, even with salt-n-pepper hair. A bit like a 50s Orlando Bloom.

Or Leonardo DiCaprio.

Oh, John....

Take that, Omar Sharif

Has there been anything written, in-depth, about John Derek's Svengali ways? One interview with him asks if he would leave Bo if she ever lost her looks, and he gave a convoluted answer that pretty much indicated that he might. He "managed" the weight of his wives Ursula, Linda and Bo and encouraged them to get plastic surgery. Yet all the wives remained in his life after divorces and praised him as doing what they felt was in their best interest.

I never saw John during his movie days. I only saw him during the Bo years.

Dear Lord, the two of them were the hottest things on the planet. He had the gorgeous yet hot daddy look while she was just absolutely gorgeous.

Whoever said Bo was a teenage prostitute is a loon. She was 16 years old when she met John and she was still living at home with her parents and going to school. No salacious home life or anything.

John had to be the world's best salesman though to be able to talk Bo's parents into allowing him to date and woo their daughter at such a young age.

R45, wow, Marilyn really stands out in that pic, and not just because of the red dress. Her looks seem very contemporary, and her eyes have a very seductive gaze. In fact, her entire posture and look scream SEX! The two in the foreground, by comparison, look like Donna Reed clones. Even the brunette just blends in the background. I can see why Marilyn must've excited 1950s men. She was so different and sexier from anything they had ever seen.

bump

Derek with Ursula Andress

I wonder if John made love with the young actor playing Bo's lover in Bolero. I want to hear more gay stories!!!

Such a beauty.

He looks like Rock Hudson merged with Ted Cruz. Blaugh!

Great photo at R45. Bogey and Bacall are looking at each other, Derek is posing and the dog is eyeing him suspiciously.

r93 well, Derek seemed to cast young, hunky gay men in roles with Bo. I guess that kept the jealousy down. Andrea Occhipinti from Bolero is gay.

John and Bo also shot the cover of Shania Twain's "Woman in Me" album.

r97, Andrea Occhipinti resembled a young John Derek. Do you think John was bi?

hottie

[quote]Here's John in "The Outcast" of 1954, I defy you to name a more beautiful man of the screen:

John Derek was far from the most beautiful man of the silver screen...hell, he's not even the best looking dude in the movie you posted.

r100 must be blind. What's wrong is John too pretty for you?

He reminds me of my friend, Jimmy, who I suppose is considered very attractive, but he's always been more like a brother. He, me, and my brother were always close. So I never saw my friend that way. It would be too incestuous. So it's hard for me to gaze lustfully at John Derek (or what's been posted).

He certainly was handsome, in the secret HIV/AIDS deaths someone there said he was bisexual. He was cute in a way and he's not my type.

Actually I think John Derek was much more handsome when he was older - 45+. He had wonderful longish salt and pepper hair and beard.

Younger Derek was good looking but too feminine.

Let's see if this link works. He's probably early 50's in this pic.

[R104] interesting body language in that pic; I wonder how long it was taken before Evans and Derek divorced?

Found that movie [R27 ] mentioned on IMDB; that site also says Bo Derek just worked with her husband's sound crew on the 1979 hardcore movie.