Portraying a young woman of Greek descent, Collins was urged to dye her hair brown so as to better look the part of the character. In 1973, Collins began filming on John Derek's low-budget romantic drama Fantasies. The couple moved to Germany, where John Derek would not be subject to prosecution under California statutory rape laws, because Collins was under the age of consent. Not long after the two started dating, Derek divorced his wife, actress Linda Evans. While attending Narbonne High School in Los Angeles at age 16 in 1973, Collins became sexually involved with John Derek, a married man 30 years her senior. I started to go back to school, and I was really enjoying it, and then I went to go do this film with John in Greece . I spent about a month going to the beach surfing and sunbathing while I was supposed to be in school: when I got caught, my mom was furious. She remarked in a 1985 interview on Late Night with David Letterman: Patton Continuation School, both in Harbor City, California. She has two sisters and a brother.Ĭollins attended Narbonne High School and George S. Collins' parents divorced, and her mother remarried, to stunt performer Bobby Bass.
Her father, Paul Collins, was a Hobie Cat executive, and her mother, Norma (née White), was a make-up artist and hairdresser to Ann-Margret. Derek was born Mary Cathleen Collins in Long Beach, California.
