Luis Miguel Dominguín

Dominguín made his first public appearance in the ring at the age of eleven. He became a matador in 1941. He enjoyed popularity during the 1940s and 1950s in Spain, Portugal, Colombia and other countries. He was on the card in Linares, Spain on 28 August 1947 when another legend, his rival Manolete, was fatally gored.

Dominguín was also a socialite, having friends like Pablo Picasso and romances with the American actress Ava Gardner and the fashion model China Machado. In 1955, he married actress Lucia Bosé, who gave birth to his son Miguel Bosé, a Grammy-award winning singer. He also occasionally appeared in films, predominantly playing himself in cameo roles, in movies such as Around the World in 80 Days (1956), and Testament of Orpheus (1960). In 1959, he and his brother-in-law, Antonio Ordóñez, engaged in a bullfighting rivalry that was chronicled in Ernest Hemingway's posthumous book The Dangerous Summer,Ordóñez won.

In 1971, at the age of 44, he returned to the bullring. That year he retired again, but returned to the ring in 1971, aged 45, when he attempted to fathom the sport's continuing allure. His comeback was at Las Palmas, the Canary Islands, when he wore the costume known as the "suit of lights," which had been designed for him by Picasso. He killed two bulls and won one ear, but was overshadowed by younger men - although the actress Deborah Kerr, who was in the crowd, insisted, "He is still the greatest bull-fighter."

In 1953, Luis Miguel Dominguín met Miroslava Sternova in Cuba. Dominguín was half a year younger than she, so they parted as friends only until they met again in 1954, this time in the United States. She went on to work abroad in Spain to meet up with friends and Dominguín. After her return to Mexico, Sternova was found dead from an overdose. In one hand, she clutched three farewell notes; in the other, a photograph showing her with Dominguín and his mother. Rumor has it that she took her own life over the marriage of Dominguín and Bosè.

By 1954, Dominguín's friendship with Ava Gardner was being widely reported. He considered her the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but liked her more, he said, for her humor and understanding; he confessed himself unsure what he looked for in women. "Men fall in love with a woman's faults rather than her qualities," he mused.

Ava had been previously associated with other bullfighters, though still married at the time to Frank Sinatra. The most spirited of them all was, no doubt, Luis Miguel Dominguín. However, the relationship was so passionate and stormy, and the fights between him and the diva had people talking. But also they had their tender moments. It is said that on their first night of lovemaking, he got out of bed and she asked: "Where are you going?". "To go tell!" replied the bullfighter. Years later, he admitted to a friend he made up that anecdote. ...

Source: Article "Luis Miguel Dominguín" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.