My Favorite Sex Symbols:Bo Derek

Bo Derek was born Mary Cathleen Collins in Long Beach, California on November 20, 1956. At age 16,she fell in love with former Hollywood matinee idol and famed photographer & film director John Derek(THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, EXODUS) who then left his then wife TV actress Linda Evans(DYNASTY) and eloped with Bo to marry in Europe because of their great age difference between them(Derek was 30 years older than Bo at the time) and the possibilities of being accused of statutory rape) They both married in 1976 when Bo was more than 18 years old and she made her first screen appearance in her husband's film FANTASIES(1975). Bo also appeared in ORCA(1978) and LOVING COUPLES(1979) but it was her appearance as Dudley Moore's fantasy "perfect 10"girl in Blake Edward's comedy TEN(1979) that made her an overnight star and the 1980's top sex symbol with thousands of women imitating Bo Derek's cornrow hairstyle that she wore in Edward's film. She also appeared naked no less that five times in popular pictorials photographed by her own husband for Playboy Magazine. Since 1980, Bo Derek only starred in and appeared in films written and directed by her husband such as TARZAN THE APE MAN(1981), BOLERO(1984) and GHOSTS CAN'T DO IT(1988) which was savaged by the critics but supported by her many fans for appearing nude in them, She continued married to John Derek until his death in 1998 but since then, she has made screen appearances in such film comedies as TOMMY BOY(1995) and MALIBU MOST WANTED(2003) and dramatic films as WOMEN OF DESIRE(1994) with Robert Mitchum, HORROR 101(1997) and FROZEN WITH FEAR(1999). She has also appeared in such TV shows as QUEEN OF SWORDS(2000), the soap opera FASHION HOUSE(2006) and was a judge at the 2004 Miss Universe pageant.