Born as Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez on July 4, 1917 in Córdoba, Manolete He was a Spanish matador, generally considered the successor of Joselito (José Gómez) and Juan Belmonte as supreme in the profession.
Manolete He was born in Córdoba, the heart of the bullfighting country. His great-uncle, a minor league bullfighter, was killed by a bull of the dreaded Miura breed. His mother was already the widow of a bullfighter when she married his father, also a bullfighter, who became blind and died in poverty when Manolete was five years old.
Manolete He became a professional bullfighter at the age of 17. In his debut he was clumsy but brave and obviously tried so hard that the audience applauded him. He and two other boys pooled their money and formed a team called Califas Cordobeses and set out to make their fortune. He was discovered by ex-matador José Camará, who taught him to fine-tune his style and focus on the austere classical passes. With a sad and sober face, Manolete became known for his extreme economy of movement and dispassionate demeanor, which was in stark contrast to the more extravagant cape passes prevalent at the time.
Manolete He was a Spanish cultural hero for a decade, earning 4 million in eight years in the 1940s. His cult was fostered by dolls with his image, songs in his honor, a liquor called Anís Manolete and testimonies. He was so financially valuable to agents, promoters, bull breeders, and publicists that no one wanted to be goring or injured in any way. For this reason, many of the bulls he faced were “fixed” (“fixed” or altered with shortened horns; shaved horns give an obvious advantage to the matador). Despite this practice (illegal though common in bullfighting at the time), the art and skill of Manolete were beyond doubt, and is among the best bullfighters in history.
Manolete he performed up to 100 times a year and was gored 11 times. When he announced his intention to retire, he was goaded into one final season, fighting the bigger bulls. In a bullfight in Linares he was joined by his young rival Dominguín, who did well with the first bull. The second bull of Manolete It was Islero, from the Miura strain. At the time of the slaughter, when Manolete he plunged his sword into the bull, was fatally gored. His death caused a national mourning. The headlines of the newspapers announced: “He died by killing and he killed by dying!”