Hollywood's Original Train Wreck

[Music] few remember heartthrob John Derek's dark history and that includes his chilling role in James Dean's untimely death born Derek deavan Harris he had what can only be described as an incredibly messed up childhood he and his mother who was a former actress were abandoned by his father er's mom was always obsessed with being beautiful but as her drinking problem grew her Obsession morphed into a laser sharp focus on young Jon's looks she did everything she could to make sure that his dark hair gray eyes and fine features stood out and to be fair what she did worked John Derek was allegedly such a pretty child that people in the streets would stop to stare at [Music] him thank thanks to his mom's connections Hollywood producers and Studio heads soon took notice shortly after he turned 16 producer David O selnik began grooming him for the glitzy world of Hollywood unfortunately John Derek quickly found out that Hollywood wasn't all about being pretty and talented publicity was what got actors famous it turned out that both Charley Temple and John Derek and ended up under contract to 20th Century Fox at the same time this gave the studio the idea to pair them up as a couple as part of a publicity stunt in 1944 the studio even gave Derek small roles in two of Temple's films to really get the public excited about the new couple this might have led Derek to eventual stardom if not for what happened next [Music] in that same year Derek was drafted for service in World War II when he returned he found out that Charley Temple had given him the boot and was now engaged to an actor named John Agar as if that wasn't bad enough 20th Century Fox lost all enthusiasm towards developing John Derek as an actor only giving him a bit part in a double life released in 1947 his situation seemed hopeless until a sudden opportunity gave him a second chance he found out through his acting teacher that Humphrey Bogart planned to make a movie called knock on any door this disturbing film featured a killer named Nick romano and Derek knew he'd be perfect for the part he wrote numerous letters to Columbia Pictures convinced they would take him on for the role when they didn't he went just a a little bit crazy taking matters into his own hands Derek stormed the studio barricades at Columbia Pictures located Humphrey Bogart sat the man down and somehow persuaded Bogart to let him give a reading for the role of Nick Romano the truly wild thing is that it's somehow worked Bogart gave Derek the part the story of John Derek's tenacity became legendary and his portrayal of Romano shot him to stardom recognizing him as a talented newcomer Bogart signed Derek to a seven-year contract with Columbia pictures at first it seemed like Derek's career would be smooth sailing from here on out he played a supporting role in The Academy awardwinning All the King's Men in 1949 which led to many more offers from major Studios all around Hollywood there was just one problem Colombia wanted John Derek all to themselves time and time again they refused to let Derek take on leading roles from other Studios sticking him into their co-starring roles instead to make things worse Colombia began to typ cast him only giving him pretty boy roles that were shallow and uninteresting Colombia did eventually give Derek leading roles but he found these roles completely humiliating he was cast as Robin Hood in Rogues of Sherwood Forest and the swashbuckling Captain rato DEA in mask of the Avengers and while these roles certainly got John Derek more attention what the critics wrote about him made Derek's heart sink one critic from the Los Angeles Times called him a slim and beautiful youth while other ICS commented on how pretty his legs were in his green tights the objectification was mortifying but he kept at it determined to make it as an actor and that was how he ended up meeting Patty Bears his first wife they met in an acting class at 20th Century Fox fell in love and got married Bears quit acting and the two settled into the their idyllic home in Santa Monica for a year things went smoothly Derek loved how carefree and wild bears was and the Press even presented them as the perfect couple things behind the scenes however became less than perfect when bears became pregnant with their son during her pregnancy Bears became increasingly cautious and overprotective and was no longer the care free girl that Derek fell in love with slowly he began to drift away which likely made Bears even more cautious and withdrawn by the time their son Russell was born in 1950 his marriage with bears was in trouble the birth of his son only made things even more complicated it turned out that their newborn son had a major issue he had a split esophagus in an astonish turn of events the hospital staff detected his son's condition and just happened to employ the only doctor in America that could perform the life-saving surgery he needed to survive although Derek's son lived he needed Round the Clock care as a result Derek's wife became his son's full-time nurse this was not the home life that Derek invisioned for himself by the time they had their second child sha Catherine in 1953 their marriage was on the Rocks then Derek proceeded to make things even worse not only did he begin seeing other women but he actively brought them to his home where his wife and children still lived on top of that Derek began strictly controlling his wife's diet and had her on various exercise regimes he became fanatically obsessed with making her beautiful which sounds familiar [Laughter] the woman who eventually stole John Derek's heart was none other than 17-year-old Ursula Andress even though she spoke no English when they met Andress was young exciting and distracted Derek from his troubled marriage the two began having an affair but what Derek didn't know was that Andress came with baggage in the form of her actor boyfriend James Dean when Derek and Andress started their Affair Dean wasn't happy he even went so far as to stalk the two in his car while they were driving down Sunset Boulevard after Derek dropped Andress off at her home one day Dean walked out the door and offered to drive Derek around in his brand new Porsche Derek's friends tried to stop him from getting into the car they had no doubt that Dean's intentions were far from good Derek however wasn't going to back down he hopped into Dean's car which quickly roared to Life With Derek in the passenger seat Dean kened down the streets of Hollywood driving over curbs going up and down sidewalks and screeching up Laurel Canyon Dean wanted to give John Derek a good scare but was infuriated when Derek kept as cool as a cucumber [Music] frustrated at Derek's lack of reaction Dean drove back to andress's home in a fury John Derek walked out on his wife and children in late 1955 to be with Andress and finalized their Divorce by 1956 just a year later Derek and Andress married in a quickie ceremony in Las Vegas for the next couple of years the new couple traveled through Europe with Derek acting in a few movies along the way but all too soon their money began to run out seeing their chance CBS gave Derek an offer too good to refuse the TV network asked Derek to return to LA to appear in a series called Frontier circus and even offered to pay for both the coup's plane tickets home without many options Derek agreed but he did so with a heavy heart by this point Derek had grown to dislike acting and wanted to become a director it also didn't help that back in Los Angeles his ex-wife and kids were waiting for his return when Derek wasn't busy on the set of Frontier circus he spent his time trying to be a father to his kids to say he didn't really do a great job is an understatement not only did he fail to pay alimony but he had a cruel habit of commenting on both Russell and Shan Katherine's weight by the time the filming of Frontier circus ended Derek was more than ready to leave town again his next stop was the Philippines where he planned to finally make his directorial debut with Andress at his side he began production for a film called once before I die in 1964 with the couple also taking on acting roles in the movie directing didn't turn out to be the dream job that Derek had in mind and the production was Rife with problems for one the casting crew for Derek's movie weren't fully paid then rumors began swirling that his wife was having an affair with Ron elely an actor playing a small part in the movie the weight of the rumors caused Derek to crack in a fit of anger he threw Andress out of his home once before I die released 8 months later and was a financial failure everything about his first directorial Venture was a disaster in 1965 Derek met actress Linda Evans almost 20 years his Junior who starred in the American drama The Big Valley Derek was smitten with Evans and as their relationship deepened she began financing his alimony payments even encouraging him to repair his relationship with his [Music] kids for a long time Derek suspected his ex-wife of turning his children against him and those feelings spilled over after he brought the kids to his home to live with him in 1968 after just a month his son Russell who had repeatedly been in trouble with the law for hot wiring cars ran away life with his daughter got off to a rough start too Derek accused her of neither loving him nor respecting him and the argument escalated into a screaming match in a moment of passion Derek revealed a dark secret to Shan Katherine he told her he only married her mother out of pity he originally wanted to break things off but stopped short when bears threatened to take her own life [Music] a while later Derek and his daughter were attending a dinner party when a freak accident occurred while rushing through the party she accidentally smashed into a plate glass door which tore open her leg and cut her thigh down to the bone Derek immediately rushed her to hospital where she received over 75 stitches to her left leg the accident shook Derek to his core and and he knew he had to change after nearly losing his daughter Derek softened towards her considerably in 1968 when Derek decided to marry Evans he asked his daughter to be their witness and she happily obliged he then took her and his new wife to Switzerland where he planned on directing a film he wrote called wild flowers [Music] Switzerland didn't work out as Derek had planned most of the crew members he hired were close friends of his although his intentions were good most of his friends were highly underqualified for the job the fact that they were filming in the blizzard-like conditions of the Alps didn't help either his next two films also went by unnoticed unable to make his Mark as a director Derek returned home where a surprise visitor was waiting for him Derek's son suddenly showed up and swore that his troublemaking days were behind him Derek desperately wanting to believe him bought him a motorcycle as a welcome home gift before that day ended Russell would be involved in a devastating crash at the hospital thect doctor gave John Derek the horrific news his son was paralyzed for life from the chest down the news threw his entire family into chaos his daughter blamed Derek for the accident and Derek in turn became increasingly protective of his daughter at the same time he still had no luck with his directorial project and was running out of money by the' 70s Derek was completely broke in desperation he began to write and Shop the script for a film called and Once Upon a Time Around Hollywood after several tentative deals fell through an agent named Kevin Castleman finally agreed to take on Derek's film in 1972 as long as he cast a young teen named Kathy Collins as the lead at first Derek and Collins absolutely hated each other she resented the fact that Derek wanted to change her entire image demanding that she lose weight and dye her hair despite this Derek and Collins along with his wife agreed to go ahead and shoot the movie in Greece while filming Derek's life took a dark turn he began having an affair with the under rage Collins Evans returned to the states and began divorce proceedings in 1974 Derek for his part stayed in Europe fearing that he'd be thrown behind bars if he returned to America with Collins when they did eventually return nothing good awaited them Derek married Collins on June 10th 1976 and she changed her name to B Derek but the marriage wasn't a fairy tale for one Colin's parents were less than happy that their daughter was marrying a man decades her senior and for another Derek had left and Once Upon a Time [Music] incomplete he spent months dodging angry financiers and even sold his home to cover his debts he didn't have a penny to his name and things with his new wife were going downhill too [Music] the couple disagreed bitterly over the direction of Collins's career over his wife's protests Derek began putting Collins into less than Savory exploitative films which he shot himself he continued to push her image as Hollywood's hottest Vixen until his wife eventually landed her career defining role in the film 10 in 1979 her appearance shot both herself and Derek to stardom using his wife's new clout in Hollywood Derek raised the finances to attempt yet another directorial project this time he planned to direct Tarzan the ape man in 1981 which shockingly was a flop he made several more attempts in the director's chair but he was becoming increasingly old and was slowing down remember derk's strange encounter with James Dean well the day after his chilling experience driving around Derek got a phone call from arsela Andress that changed everything Dean had gotten into a lethal accident sometime in the night in the very same car that he tried to scare Derek in Derek immediately left home to be at andress's side going so far as to leave town with her in order to escape the Press on May 22nd 1998 John Derek lost his battle with cardiovascular disease his life was a tangle of bad decisions worse relationships and career moves that never quite panned out while he had his moments of heroism and even kindness he pushed away many of the people closest to him leaving a string of flabbergasted confused and broken individuals in his [Music] wake if you enjoyed this video please give it a like And subscribe for more videos

Channel: Factinate

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Id: ew2DzXEm7Vw

Length: 20min 1sec (1201 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2024