José María Ortega Cano (born 23 December 1953) is a Spanish

bullfighter A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activ ...

. He was married to Spanish singer

Rocío Jurado María del Rocío Mohedano Jurado (, 18 September 1943 – 1 June 2006), better known as Rocío Jurado, was a Spanish singer and actress. She was born in Chipiona (Cádiz) and nicknamed "La más grande" ("The Greatest"). In 2000 in New York Ci ...

. They adopted two Colombian children, one boy and one girl. He began his bullfighting career in 1973 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. He took his '' alternativa on 12 October 1974 in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

. Standing as his "godfather" was José Mari Manzanares, while the witness was Paco Bautista. Ortega had a notably successful year in 1986, where he was very successful in many bullrings. In 1995 he married

, a famous Spanish singer. He retired from bullfighting in 1998, but donned the '' traje de luces'' bullfighter outfit again in 2001 to attempt a comeback, albeit with less success. He entered retirement again in 2004 to take care of his wife, who had been diagnosed with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

, until her death in 2006. In 2007, Ortega Cano entered the bullring one final time in

Olivenza Olivenza () or Olivença () is a town in southwestern Spain, close to the Portugal–Spain border. It is a municipality belonging to the province of Badajoz, and to the wider autonomous community of Extremadura. The town of Olivença was und ...

. He was a contestant on the Spanish version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' (''Mira quién baila''), where he showed no talent for dancing. On 29 May 2011, he was involved in a car accident which left the other driver dead and himself in critical condition. After a slow recovery, he left the hospital on 11 July 2011. On 24 April 2013, First-instance criminal court No. 6 of Seville sentenced Ortega Cano to two years, six months and one day in prison for reckless homicide and reckless driving, causing the death of Carlos Parra in the aforementioned accident. He entered Zuera prison in

on 23 April 2014. After a year and a month in prison he was left out in regime of semi-liberty. On 27 September 2018, he married Ana María Aldón (his partner since 2012) by civil law in a notary office in Zaragoza. On 31 December 2020, during

COVID-19 pandemic in Spain The COVID-19 pandemic in Spain has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Spain on 31 January 2020, when a German tourist tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in La Gomera, Canary Island ...

, Ortega Cano, his wife and his daughter tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

with notable symptoms after getting infected on Christmas Eve, recovering from the disease few weeks later but with mild sequelae. In 2016, the Spanish satirical magazine ''Mongolia'' caricatured him in a promotional poster as a drunken extraterrestrial against a crashed flying saucer, a reference to the car crash which he had caused in 2011 and for which he had been sentenced in 2013. He sued the magazine alleging an attack on his honour, and was awarded EUR 40 000 in damages. The court ruling was confirmed on appeal by the Spanish Supreme Court in December 2020.

References

1953 births Living people Sportspeople from Cartagena, Spain Spanish bullfighters Spanish prisoners and detainees Reality dancing competition contestants {{spain-bullfighting-bio-stub