Artist-author Barnaby Conrad was born in San Francisco, California, in 1922. He graduated from Taft preparatory school in Connecticut, attended the Univerity of North Carolina, where he was captain of the boxing team, and the University of Mexico, where he studied painting and begun his career as an amateur bullfighter. After being injured in the bullring, he continued his studies at Yale and graduated in 1943. He was named American Vice Consul to Sevilla, Malaga, and Barcelona from 1943 to 1946. There he studied bullfighting with Belmonte, Manolete, and Arruza—three greats of the bullring—and in 1945 he appeared on the same program with Belmonte and was awarded the ears of the bull. He is the only American to have fought in Spain, Mexico, and Peru.