At only 16 years old, the Spanish actor suffered an accident on his motorcycle that almost cost him his life; many years later he spoke about the little mentioned anecdote
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Antonio Banderas was saved by a Drag Queen (Photos: Instagram/@colectivolg_bt+/antoniobanderas)
José Antonio Domínguez Bandera, better known as Antonio Banderas, is one of the most internationally recognized Spanish actors thanks to his artistic work in various spheres ranging from the world of acting -also of dubbing-, music, production, as well as being an entrepreneur and even a perfumer.
Despite the fact that he is currently 61 years old -he was born on August 10, 1960-, the renowned protagonist of The Skin That LivedHe experienced an accident that almost cost him his life and that very few people know about since there are few occasions in which he has been honest, publicly revealing the introverted story of a very particular character.
The main reason that no one knows this anecdote from his past is due to the youth in which he lived it, still being a complete unknown in the world of world entertainment, since he was not yet working or studying acting, but as time passed and played characters indirectly related to his savior, he decided to talk about the time a Drag Queen saved his life from an accident he suffered.
The Spanish actor was saved from an accident suffered by EFE/Jorge Zapata
From a young age he showed a strong interest in the performing arts and was part of the Malacitano Teatro-Escuela ARA directed by Ángeles Rubio-Argüelles y Alessandri, wife of the diplomat, writer and film director Edgar Neville, and of the Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático de Malaga. For this reason, in his youth he was always a very outgoing person who did not hesitate to put all his feelings to the surface, which he materialized in all kinds of actions, possibly one of the reasons why he liked adrenaline, even within the most everyday.
When he was only 16 years old, Antonio Banderas managed to get money to buy a means of transport that has become the dream that every young person has in their life and more when they are fanatics of speed, electric beauty and of course the conquest of attractive people: a motorcycle. Although he has never specified whether his parents José Domínguez Prieto (1920-2008) and the aforementioned high school teacher, Ana Bandera Gallego (1933-2017) provided her with the financial means, the reality is that she traveled constantly on it, becoming one of her favorite hobbies.
However, He did not know how prone it can be to travel in said means of transport, and more so when one is young and has little experience in handling them, to accidents of both small and large magnitude. For this reason, the interpreter of other great productions such as The Legend of Zorro, My Mom´s New Boyfriend and recently Indiana Jones 5 suffered at that age one of his greatest tragedies, of which he speaks little but surely remembers very well because of the honey with which he mentions them.
Spanish actor Antonio Banderas performs for the media in the presentation of his musical “Company” at the Soho CaixaBank theater in Malaga, Spain, on November 11, 2021. REUTERS/Jon Nazca
Just a few years ago, Banderas took advantage of a great moment of popularity to talk about his experience, which a journalist had already investigated, as well as to talk a little more about his personal life. In an interview with the British newspaper, The Independent, recalled the moment that many did not know about the Iberian actor.
In 1976, the front tire of his motorcycle “went into a ditch < /b>and boom!” he said in the interview, “I collided with a car and my head hit the tank, bam!” At that moment, the journalist Patrick Smith describes Antonio Banderas evoking “an imaginary wig” and “an imaginary dress” to describe his savior, who according to the Spaniard “was working on a corner for his clients, appeared out of nowhere, got in the middle of the road and stopped the car to take me to the hospital”.
Unfortunately that part of the interview has been associated with his “Salvadora” was a sex worker who was practicing the oldest job in the world, but the reality is different and little by little -for the better- she has been socially differentiated by an audience outside the LGBT+ community.< /p>
In fact the accident left a scar on his leg, “the blow brought me here”, he continued, “Blood everywhere. You could see the bone.” The writing assumes that the savior of Banderas was a drag queen, in the face of what could now be understood as a confusion about what it is to be a Drag and a sex worker, but it was not taken up in the future by the actor since it was not repeated. mention this story in another meeting with the media or their own social networks.
For the Spaniard it was a traumatic moment REUTERS/Jon Nazca
The interview in which Antonio Banderas told this story following the premiere ofPain and Glory. In said film it was a kind of return to the origins of his career: he returns with Almodóvar and returns to the scene. On the question of the sexuality of his characters it seems that the actor has a clear opinion: “I’ve been playing gay for a long time and I’ve always tried to be respectful of the gay community. I’m an actor. I just play the character and try to fully believe in it while I’m doing it. I’m not trying to act them out, I’m trying to live them. But, you know, I’m not the Zorro either. I’ve never been heroic, I run away!”
What is a Drag Queen?
Drag Queen is a term that describes a a person who characterizes himself and acts like a character with exaggerated features, with a primarily histrionic intention that makes fun of traditional notions of gender identity and gender roles. Yes, possibly up to this point you still cannot differentiate the wide rainbow that exists in sexual diversity and the LGBT+ community in general, but talking about the etymology of words and the updated, connoted uses that are given to them all becomes easier. .
Drag Queen is a term that describes a person who is characterized and acts like a character with very marked features REUTERS/Phil Noble TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Transgender or trans
This is the term used to describe people whose gender identity does not correspond to the sex with which they are born. According to COPRED, these people do not seek to make changes to reassign their sex, but to express themselves and live according to the gender with which they identify.
Transsexual
Unlike transgender people, this description refers to those who make changes to their body to align their sex with the gender with which they identify. The term may be offensive to some.
Transvestite
The difference between the “three Ts” it is important to understand what a Drag Queen is EFE/Kiko Huesca
It refers to people who feel pleasure or well-being when wearing clothes socially classified as “of the opposite sex”, or who do it for work in theater or television, without this involving their gender identity or their sexuality. In other words, a heterosexual man may find well-being or pleasure in wearing “women’s” clothes, but he does not do it all the time nor does he identify as a woman.
Understanding the “three Ts” allows us to differentiate the essential characteristics that a Drag Queen, Drag King and its various variants have in order to be classified in that way and differentiated from their sister branches.