John Derek

Overview

John Derek was born on August 12, 1926 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Ten Commandments (1956), Knock on Any Door (1949) and Ghosts Can't Do It (1989). He was married to Bo Derek, Linda Evans, Ursula Andress and Pati Behrs. He died on May 22, 1998 in Santa Maria, California, USA.

Walked out on first wife Pati Behrs and their family in 1955 for a pre-fame Ursula Andress, who had recently immigrated to the U.S. from Italy and spoke almost no English at the time. Behrs threatened to bring a morals charge against Derek for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which could've meant deportation for Andress.
In his 1956 divorce from Pati Behrs, she was granted custody of the couple's two children, 5% of his salary as well as child support.
Appeared in three Oscar Best Picture nominees: Since You Went Away (1944), All the King's Men (1949) and The Ten Commandments (1956), with All the King's Men winning in the category.
Daughter Sean Catherine Derek and third wife Linda Evans have been best friends for over 50 years and live near each other in Washington state.
John and his wife Bo Derek were many of the Hollywood celebrities who liked to make regular weekend visits to Ralph Helfer Africa U.S.A. Exotic Animal Ranch in Soledad Canyon, California to pitch in with the chores and play with the animals.

[on the interview with Cecil B. DeMille that led to his being cast in DeMille's final film] He was disappointed in my stature. He wanted me for the part of Joshua, the stonecutter, in The Ten Commandments (1956). He had studied me for months and knew more about me than I knew about myself. I was so used to being rushed through interviews that I stumbled over my words for the first fifteen minutes to get out everything I wanted to say. An hour and a half later I was still in there with him. A burning desire to play Joshua and a new enthusiasm for acting actually filled me. Finally, I told him that by the time he was ready to shoot, I would build up my body by scaling it down from one hundred eighty-five pounds to the proportions he wanted by weight lifting and I would be the best Joshua he could find.

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