Sidney Franklin

Journalist Lillian Ross describes one of Franklin's early successes as a matador: Ross in her biographical essay offers an example of Franklin's efficiency in “dispatching bulls” while appearing at a Madrid bull ring billed with two other matadors: “One day early in his career, Franklin killed the two bulls that were allotted him. Then taking the place of the two other matadors, who had been gored, killed four more.” Franklin killed about 5,000 bulls, and survived two severe gorings

Franklin appeared in a few feature films in the US and Mexico. Later he presented bullfights on American TV. He played himself in The Kid from Spain, an Eddie Cantor vehicle. In his autobiography, he wrote of heterosexual relationships that are considered fictitious. He lived in a nursing home in Manhattan during his final seven years, dying in 1976 at age 72 of natural causes.

Partial filmography The Kid from Spain (1932)