[6] Derek was recognized as a talented newcomer, "plainly an idol for the girls", as Bosley Crowther wrote in a review for The New York Times.

[7] The Los Angeles Times called him "a handsome hot-eyed newcomer who makes the case for this product of the city's slums—'live fast, die young and have a good looking corpse'—all too fascinating for everybody's comfort.

"[8] The film was made for Bogart's Santana company and released through Columbia Pictures, who signed Derek to a seven-year contract in April 1948.

[9] Derek followed it with a supporting role as the son of Broderick Crawford in All the King's Men (1949), the Best Picture Oscar winner for its year.

[11] Columbia promoted him to lead roles, as the son of the deceased Robin Hood in Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950) with Alan Hale Sr.; the Los Angeles Times called him a "slim and beautiful youth".

Instead, Columbia put him in another swashbuckler, Mask of the Avenger (1951), then gave him a good dramatic role in a prestige film, Saturday's Hero (1951), as a college football player.

He went back to Columbia for Prince of Pirates (1953), a swashbuckler for Sam Katzman; two Westerns, Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953), with John Hodiak and The Last Posse (1953) with Crawford.

He was back with Hodiak for Mission Over Korea (1953), a Korean War film, then was again borrowed by Republic for Sea of Lost Ships (1953).

[17] He had a showy role as John Wilkes Booth in Prince of Players (1955) at Fox, then was in the drama An Annapolis Story (1955) at Allied Artists.

"[22] He directed A Boy... a Girl (1969) with Dean Paul Martin, and Childish Things (1969) with his third wife, Linda Evans.

When the feature film 10 (1979) made Bo a star, Derek was able to find backing for Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981), which received mostly negative reviews; Roger Ebert called it "completely ridiculous" but added that it had a "certain disarming charm.

[25] They had a son, Russell Andre (1950–1999), who became paralyzed from the chest down in a 1969 motorcycle accident,[26] and a daughter, Sean Catherine (born 1953), who later wrote a memoir titled Cast of Characters (1982) about her parents' dysfunctional relationship.

[27][28] Derek abandoned his wife and family in late summer 1955 after meeting 19-year-old aspiring Swiss actress Ursula Andress,[28][29] who spoke almost no English when they met.

[26] Andress returned to Europe, engaging in public affairs with costars John Richardson and Marcello Mastroianni before officially leaving Derek for Jean-Paul Belmondo in 1965.

In September 1965, Derek became involved with American actress Linda Evans, who at the time was starring in television's The Big Valley.

She financed his alimony and child support payments to Behrs, as he had quit acting to pursue photography and directing.

[26][35] Collins, known as Bo Derek following their marriage on June 10, 1976, achieved international fame in 1979 with her role in the Blake Edwards film 10.