 |
 |
|
|
|||
|
|
Beautiful, glamorous protege and fourth wife of Svengali-like writer-director John Derek who gained fame as the perfect fantasy woman with the trend-setting corn-row hairstyle in the Blake Edwards comedy "10" (1979). Daughter of a hairstylist for a number of Hollywood figures, Derek met her future husband in Greece when she was just 16, and he promptly cast her--in more ways than one--in a role in his "Fantasies" (1973). Her second film did not come till 1977 with a thankless, if prominent, supporting role in the silly killer whale tale "Orca", but Derek hit the jackpot when she became a "10". With her tawny complexion, high cheekbones and voluptuous figure, Derek gave what was probably her most effective performance. She wasn't called on to do very much other than serve as the perfect "10", the lush embodiment of the hero's (Dudley Moore)--and, by extension many male audience members' sexual fantasies--this Derek certainly accomplished.
She next played in "A Change of Seasons" (1980), but the dull, smirking comedy of adultery didn't help her career, and neither her part nor performance suggested a developing flair for romantic comedy. Derek and her husband formed a company, Svengali Productions, for their biggest effort together, with John directing Bo as a quasi-feminist Jane in "Tarzan, The Ape Man" (1981). It failed to swing at all with either critics or the public. The duo followed this fiasco with the equally laughable "Bolero" (1984), which, despite the wordplay in the title, which also recalled the theme music from "10", failed to titillate audiences with nude scenes mixed in with an improbable tale of a virgin who can't get deflowered. Derek returned to the big screen with "Ghosts Can't Do It" (1990), which, like her subsequent efforts "Hot Chocolate" (1992) and "Woman of Desire" (1994), received much less exposure than its leading lady's skin. Derek also ventured into the land of TV-movies with the aptly titled "Shattered Image" (1994). Although she has often looked lovely and exhibited a modest if callow charm in film and interview appearances, and although she has clearly displayed mettle in her capacities as producer, Derek never quite managed to either get beyond (or for that matter even duplicate) her initial brief impression as a mass media sexual fantasy. She even tried a TV series, playing the matriarch of an Hawaiian-based family in the silly and short-lived "Wind on Water" (1998). |
