There are many famous people who come from Andalucia, including actors such as Antonio Banderas and  political figures such as Blas Infante, known as the father of Modern Andalucia. Some are household names that everyone knows, while others are learnt about at school and then forgotten.

There is a group of famous Andalucians that some love while others love to hate because of the job that they do. They are called entertainers by many while others call them barbarians.
Who are they. They are men who are involved in one of Spain’s premier sports, Bullfighting
So despite what our personal views on bullfighting are the men below deserve a mention as they have a place in the history of Andalucia along with the politicians and actors.

Manolete (Born 1917 – Died 1947)
He was  one of Spain´s most famous bullfighters  (Matadores). Born Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez on July 4th, 1917 in the Andalucian ciry of Cordoba , he was the son of bullfighter and attended the Bujalance School of Bullfighting in Córdoba. He quickly became a legend in the world of bullfighting due to his natural grace and talent. His style in the bullring has served as a model for generations of Matadores since.
Outside of the bullring he is best known for his love affair with Lupe Sino , the Spanish actress. The relationship is said to have consumed the life of the fighter in the last years of his life.
On August 28th 1947 in the bullring at Linares in Jaen he was gored in the leg by a Miura bull and died at the bullring. Following his death Franco ordered three days of “national mourning”, during which only funeral dirges were heard on the radio.

It is said that those closest to the bullfighter did not allow his lover Lupe to see him following the goring as they never approved of his choice of partner. It is believed that he could have died from an incompatible blood transfusion that he received on site at the bullring’s clinic rather than the official story that he died from his wounds.

Manolete has been immortalized in two public monuments in his home city, A bust graces the Plaza de la Lagunilla and his statue stands in the Plaza del Conde de Priego.
A movie of his life has been made in Hollywood starting Adrian Brody as and Manolete and Spanish Actress  Penelope Cruz plays Lupe but as yet unreleased.

Antonio Ordoñez (Born 1932 -  Died 1988)
Another of the most famous great Spanish bullfighters  was born  in Ronda in 1932, and  made his first public appearance as a bullfighter in 1948 .He was the son  of a well-known bullfighter known as “El Niño de la Palmas”, His father was friends with Ernest Hemingway who he met fought in Pamplona in the 1920s. Antonio also grew to know the Hemingway and called him ‘Father Ernest’.
At the tender age of 19, he appeared in the bullring in Madrid. In 1951
During his career , Ordoñez came face to face with over 1000 bulls.
In 1968 after fighting in more than 60 bullfights he retired and went on to become a breeder of bulls on his estate near Ronda

The Bullfighter  was also a friend of the American film star Orson Welles, and when Orson Welles died in 1987, his ashes were scattered on Antonio’s estate.
Following is death in Seville in 1998 his ashes were scattered on his beloved estate near Ronda.
His life as a bullfighter also affected his family and his daughter Carmen Ordonez was married to the bullfighter Paquirri (Francisco Rivera). Following their divorce Paquirri went on to marry  the singer Isabel Pantoja  before his death in a bullfight near Cordoba
His grandson Francisco Rivera Ordóñez became a bullfighter
There is a monument this great bullfighter at the gates of the La Malaguita bullring in Malaga.
These two are probably two of the most famous bullfighters in the world and they have played a major part in the history of one of Spain´s most popular pastimes.

But regardless of your feelings on the sport itself these two famous men deserve their place in Andalucian History