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Bette Ford

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Bette Ford (born Harriet Elizabeth Dingeldein; June 24, 1937, McKeesport, Pennsylvania) is an actress and former model and professional bullfighter. She was the first American woman to fight on foot in the Plaza México, the world's largest bullfight arena.[1]

Early modeling and acting career

Bette Ford began her career as a model and actress in New York, where her modeling credits included stints as the Jantzen Bathing Suit Girl, the Camay Bride, and the Parliament Cigarette Girl, and her acting credits included appearances as a regular on The Jackie Gleason Show and The Jimmy Durante Show.[2]

Bullfighting career

While on a modeling photo shoot in Bogotá, Colombia, Ford was introduced to the renowned matador Luis Miguel Dominguín and watched him fight in the ring. Soon after, Ford left New York for Mexico to train as a bullfighter. Warner Bros made a short documentary about her training ("Beauty and the Bull", nominated for Best 2-Reel Short Film of 1954).

Her historic debut at the Plaza México was followed by several years of fighting as a figura (bullfighting celebrity) in Mexico and the Philippines. The studio MGM, which had offered her an acting contract before she left New York to become a bullfighter, planned a full-length feature film based on her life story, and sent several writers, among them John Meston, the co-creator of Gunsmoke, to meet with Ford and discuss a screenplay. Ford married Meston shortly after they met and then retired as a bullfighter.[citation needed]

Post-bullfighting acting career

Ford has appeared in feature films including the Clint-Eastwood-directed Sudden Impact and Honkytonk Man, and television series including Cheers, L.A. Law, Melrose Place, and Felicity.[2] Her voice can be heard in The Animatrix, the companion animated DVD of the film trilogy The Matrix, and numerous commercials.

Personal life

Ford was married to John Meston (July 30, 1914 – March 24, 1979) an American radio and television writer best known for creating, along with Norman Macdonnell, the long-running radio and TV series, Gunsmoke. After being widowed, she never remarried.[2]

Filmography

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Muriel Feiner, Women in the Bullring (Gainesville, University Press of Florida) 2003; ISBN 0813026296
  2. ^ a b c Bette Ford at IMDb
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