Bo Derek, 67, Is Living Her Best Life: ‘I’m Really Good at Retirement’

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.

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.