John Derek, film director; born August 12, 1926, died May 22, 1998

John Derek, the actor-director who was the force behind the meteoric career of his wife, Bo Derek, has died, aged 71.

Derek, who had a history of heart trouble, was found unconscious at his Santa Ynez Valley home in California last week

and underwent lengthy heart surgery in hospital, but it proved unsuccessful.

Hollywood-born Derek began as a movie actor in the 1940s,

and despite roles in such notable films as All the King's Men,

The Ten Commandments and

Exodus, his acting career stalled and he turned to still photo-

graphy, film directing, and

producing.

Ultimately, he was best known for marrying a series of beautiful actresses - French film starlet Pati Behrs, Ursula Andress, Linda Evans, and finally Bo Derek, who was a teenager named Mary Cathleen Collins when they met. They wed in 1974 after she turned 18.

His reputation as a Svengali stuck after she starred as the object of Dudley Moore's fantasies in Blake Edwards's 1979 film 10 and she became an instant sex symbol.

Derek was credited with masterminding her role, which created a rage for his wife's cornrow hairstyle and made ''She's a 10'' part of the language.

But the success was never to

be repeated.

There was controversy when Derek directed his wife in Bolero, which ran into trouble over the extent of her sex scenes as well

as ridicule of lovemaking that reportedly provoked audiences into fits of laughter. Bo Derek

was the producer; John Derek,

as well as directing the film, was the screenwriter.

He also directed his wife in 1981's Tarzan the Ape Man and 1990's Ghosts Can't Do It, both of which she produced and neither of which were a great success with either the critics or audiences.

Derek had two children with Pati Behrs, son Russell and daughter Sean.