His father and his grandfather had been toreros, and both used the nickname "Manolete" -- José Rodríguez Pepete was his great-uncle, y Bebé Chico, his full uncle.

His Cordobese caution lent to his attitude and bearing a rarely-seen, tragic taurine honesty. Manolete conceived of bullfighting not as a profession, but as an ideal. He did not leave the plaza with the lowly intention of meeting minimal standards, simply, he devoted himself to his taurine vocation with an incorruptable honesty, with a mystical, priestly attutude. He fought with such solemnity, so sacrificially, that when challenging a bull he didn't simply manage it, he celebrated it. And the dedications of his faenas were more like liturgical offerings.

Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez was born in Córdoba July 5, 1917. His debut as a novillero was in 1931, and -- without having been presented as a novillero before the public in Madrid -- he received the matador de toros tassel in Seville, July 2, 1939. Manuel Jiménez Chicuelo was his padrino, and Rafael Vega de los Reyes Gitanillo de Triana, was the witness. The bulls fought were from Clemente Tassara's herd. Manolete's alternativa was confirmed in Madrid October 21 that same year. In that corrida also fought Antonio Pérez Tabernero, and Marcial Lalanda who functioned as a "double" padrino, confirming the alternativas of both Manolete and Juan Belmonte Campoy. The Mexican re-validation of Manolete's Spanish "doctorate," took place in en El Toreo de la Condesa, December 9, 1945, with bulls from Torrecilla. Silverio Pérez presented the equipment to the Cordobese Monstruo in the presence of Eduardo Solórzano. (Este, hondamente impresionado por las hechuras toreras de Manolete -- y sintiéndose incapaz de igualarlo -- optó por retirarse inmediatamente de los toros). Cabe consignar que el 5 de febrero de 1946, Manolete tomó parte en la corrida inaugural de la plaza México -- el coso más grande del mundo. Alternó entonces con Luis Castro El Soldado y con Luis Procuna, en la lidia de un encierro de San Mateo.

El trazo majestuoso de sus lance; el recorte categórico de sus medias verónicas; la sublime naturalidad de su toreo paralelo y la enjundiosa entrega de sus estocadas, lo convirtieron en un torero de época no sólo en la Peninsula, sino en todas las naciones de la América taurina.

Al volcarse sobre Islero, de Miura, en el último volapié de su vida, resultó herido mortalmente, el 28 de agosto de 1947, en la plaza de Linares. Gitanillo de Triana y Luis Miguel Dominguín completaron el cartel.

(by Federico Garibay Anaya, to whom our apologies are owed if any errors crept into the text due to Mundo Taurino's still-limited translation skills)