Luis Miguel Dominguín facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Luis Miguel Dominguín
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Dominguín in 1950
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Luis Miguel González Lucas
9 November 1926 Madrid, Spain
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| Died | 8 May 1996 (aged 69) San Roque, Spain
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| Occupation | Matador |
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| Children | Miguel (b. 1956) Lucia (b. 1957) Paola (b. 1960) |
Luis Miguel González Lucas (9 November 1926 – 8 May 1996), better known as Luis Miguel Dominguín, was a bullfighter from Spain and son of noteworthy bullfighter, Domingo Dominguín. Dominguín adopted his father's name to gain popularity.
Contents
Early career
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.
Later career
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 was overshadowed by younger men - although the actress Deborah Kerr, who was in the crowd, insisted, "He is still the greatest bull-fighter."
Marriages and relationships
Lucia Bosé
Italian actress and former Miss Italy, Lucia Bosé flew to Madrid to shoot the film Muerte de un ciclista ("Death of a Cyclist").
At the airport, she met the producer, Manuel Goyanes, and Luis Miguel, who introduced him to the Italian actress. At first, she thought he was just a blowhard bully, but in the end he inspired interest and won her over. They still had not yet kissed when he asked her to marry him. They were married in Las Vegas on 1 March 1955.
Lucia has confessed that their first year of marriage was not idyllic: "It was a very hard experience. I did not speak Spanish and I do not know anything, he did not speak Italian. I think that's how the passion was born, because we did not understand each other. When I began to understand who he was and he who I was, the crisis began."
Luis Miguel returned to the bullfighting arenas abroad and their first son, singer Miguel Bosé, was born in Panama on 3 April 1956. Their second child, Lucia, born in 1957, and Paola, born in 1960.
Lucia and Luis Miguel were married for years, but their differences were accentuated over time, especially her lack of interest for the bulls. She never became part of the "Dominguín" clan, and the Dominguines never liked her.
Rosario Primo de Rivera
He divorced Bosé in 1968, and in 1987 married Rosario Primo de Rivera, niece of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish far-right politician and founder of the Falange Española fascist political party. In 1971, at the age of 44, he returned to the bullring, and retired for good in 1973.
Death
He died of heart failure at 69 in 1996. He is buried in the cemetery Guadiaro, near Sotogrande (Cádiz).
Filmography
- Around the World in 80 Days (1956) as Bullfighter
- Testament of Orpheus (1960) as Un ami d'Orphée / Orphée's Friend (uncredited)
- Yo he visto a la muerte (1967) as himself
- The Picasso Summer (1969) as himself
