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Bo Derek, 67, Is Living Her Best Life: ‘I’m Really Good at Retirement’
The star looks back on her overnight success at 22, her up-and-down career and ... those braids
REUTERS
Bo Derek, 67, has made more than 40 films and shows, but she’ll forever be associated with 10, the romantic comedy that made her a household name in 1979 and earned her a Golden Globe nomination for best new star. Derek appears in a new documentary about her 10 director, Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames (PBS, Aug. 27, 8 p.m. ET). Now happily married to Northern Exposure’s John Corbett, 63, she tells AARP about her first husband, John Derek, Edwards, her up-and-down career and her delight in her semiretirement.
(Left to right) John Derek and Bo Derek appearing on ABC's "The Barbara Walters Special."
ABC/Getty Images
Let’s talk about your first husband, John Derek. As a guy who once dated Shirley Temple, he was from a different Hollywood era than you were.
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He was [30 years] older than me. I always feel I lived almost three generations in the film business, because John’s parents were in silent films when Hollywood Boulevard was a dirt road. He exercised [Gone With the Wind producer] David O. Selznick’s polo horses. He was an actor under contract to the studio. His wives were transitioning into other Hollywood eras — Ursula Andress (Dr. No) and Linda Evans (Dynasty). When you’re married to someone, you hear all the stories.
Did you grow up dreaming of being a movie star?
I grew up along the beaches of southern California and just figured I would work in a smoothie shop or a surfboard shop. I wasn’t ambitious.
But modeling intervened?
I was pretty in my teens. And modeling was so easy! The pay was $20 an hour — insane money for someone getting 35 cents an hour babysitting.
Blake Edwards picked you over Melanie Griffith, among others, for your breakout role in 10 — what got you the part?
I didn’t come with a toolbox full of tricks. Blake Edwards liked that.
It was the movie that made Ravel’s “Bolero” and braids famous. Whose idea was your distinctive hairstyle?
I grew up in Compton [a once majority Black L.A. neighborhood], so I saw that hairdo a lot. My mother was Ann-Margret’s hairdresser. Her Vegas backup singer always wore a different pattern of braids for each tour, and I always loved them.
You just showed up with those braids?
It was shocking. He hired a blond beach girl, and all of a sudden she comes in like that. But he thought about it overnight.
Did you realize your look had gone viral?
I had no idea. My niece was about 6 on vacation in Mexico or Hawaii, and they said, “Do you want the Bo Derek look?” It confused the hell out of her. “That’s my aunt!” But now, we’re reevaluating how we treat different cultures and history. Stealing culture. I understand.
(Left to right) Bo Derek and Dudley Moore in "10."
Orion Pictures Corp/Everett Collection
Beyond hairstyle, how did the film change your life?
People came into my office with suitcases full of cash to get me to endorse this or do that movie. It was so confusing. I acknowledged I was a thing in the industry to be exploited, so I might as well be in control.
How do you feel about later movies you made, like 1981’s Tarzan, the Ape Man?
I could have done serious, no-makeup kind of drama with a lot of crying. But making a Tarzan movie with all those wild animals, elephants and everything, was so much fun! I never had this need to be taken seriously. It’s make-believe anyway.
Miles O'Keeffe and Bo Derek, right, in "Tarzan, the Ape Man."
MGM/Everett Collection
But you took some heat for those roles, right?
I never minded my work being criticized — I would agree with most of them. But I wish they would just stick to the film and my performance. When they talked about a film I made with my husband, it immediately got into our relationship. That bothered me and it was unfair.
Is it also unfair that there isn’t as much work for actresses as they age?
I adore a film written for older people as much as anyone. But usually storytelling is about younger people finding their way or going off to war or something. I get it.
I did a 2020 Hallmark movie in Kentucky with Jon Voight (85) and James Caan, JL Family Ranch 2. It was fun. The last thing I did was in Italy. I had to live in Rome for two months and it was a really fun part, a great production.
Bo Derek, left, with her husband John Corbett.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters/Redux
How does it feel to wind down your acting career?
It took time to settle into retirement, even though I was hardly working. You still have that drive and that angst. It took a couple of years to think, Oh, I have worked hard, I am this old — and I’m really good at retirement. I am having a great time!
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