Main Cast: John Derek, Ursula Andress, Richard Jaeckel
Release Year: 1965
Country: US/PH
Run Time: 97 minutes
Plot
Long before Bo Derek, actor/director John Derek was playing Svengali with another movie-star wife, Ursula Andress. In Once Before I Die, Derek casts himself as a cavalry major and Andress as his mistress. Both captain and girl are marooned with a group of American marines in the Philippines. When the group is pinned down by Japanese aerial bombardment, Ursula is anxious to escape, and promises to service any man who helps her. The girl's machinations result in the death of practically every member of the group. The ads for Once Before I Die displayed a shot of a fetchingly underdressed Ursula Andress, lying invitingly on her back; alas, the only thing flat on its back was the film itself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ron Ely; Fred Galang; Rod Lauren - Captain; Allen Pinson; Vance Skarstedt
Credit
John Derek - Director, John Davisson - Editor, Wray Davis - Executive Producer, Emanuel Vardi - Composer (Music Score), Emanuel Vardi - Musical Direction/Supervision, Norman Gimbel - Songwriter, Ralph London - Songwriter, Arthur E. Arling - Cinematographer, John Derek - Producer, Vance Skarstedt - Screenwriter, Anthony March - Short Story Author
Once Before I Die is a 1966 war drama starring Ursula Andress and her husband John Derek who also directed. The film was based on a 1945 novel Quit for the Next by Lieutenant Anthony March.[1]
In this film, a band of American soldiers and one woman get trapped behind enemy lines in the Philippines after Pearl Harbor attacks. In harrowing circumstances, they struggle for courage and fight to stay alive.
On the trip, Bailey's fiancée Alex (Ursula Andress) talks with a young shy soldier (Rod Lauren) who tells her of his fears to die and admits that he has never been with a woman. Only once before he dies, he would like to have sex.
Production
John Derek, a photographer and a former actor made his directing debut in this film. Derek was married to Ursula Andress from 1957-1966 who was then at the height of her popularity after films such as Dr.No, Four for Texas and Fun in Acapulco.
The film was titled The 26th Cavalry in the Philippines. Jock Mahoney makes an uncredited appearance in the film.
During the filming Rod Lauren met Filipino actress Nida Blanca who he later married.
