such as El Cordobés, started their careers in this way. Types Matador de toros A matador de toros (lit. "killer of bulls", from Latin mactator, killer, slayer, from mactare, to slay) is considered to be both an artist and an athlete, possessing agility and coordination. One of the earliest matadors was Juan Belmonte (1892–1962), whose technique in the ring fundamentally changed bullfighting and remains an established standard by which bullfighters are judged by aficionados. The style of the matador was regarded as being equally important as to whether or not he kills the bull. The more successful matadores were treated like rock stars, with comparable financial incomes, cult followings and accompanied by tabloid stories about their romantic conquests with women. The danger associated with bullfighting added to the matador's performance; they are regularly injured by bulls and, concurrently, 533 professional bullfighters have been killed in the arena since 1700. Spanish bullfighter Manolete died from an injury in 1947. Matador Iván Fandiño died on 17 June 2017 in Aire-sur-l'Adour, France from a similar bullfighting injury. This hazard is said to be central to the nature and appeal of bullfighting. The American writer Ernest Hemingway was a bullfighting aficionado. In his 1926 fictional work, The Sun Also Rises, the main storyline features a matador and scenes of bullfighting, as do his short stories The Capital of the World and The Undefeated. Outside of fiction, he also wrote at length on the subject in Death in the Afternoon (1932) and The Dangerous Summer (1959). In 1962, Hollywood producer David Wolper produced The Story of a Matador, documenting what it was like to be a matador. In this case, it was the Matador Jaime Bravo. Picador A picador is a bullfighter who uses a special lance called pica while on horseback to test the bull's strength and to provide clues to the matador on which side the bull is favoring. They perform in the tercio de varas which is the first of the three stages in a Spanish bullfight. The shape of the lance or pica is regulated by Spanish law to prevent serious injury to the bull which was viewed as unfair cheating in the past. The bull will charge the horses in the ring and, at the moments prior to contact, the picador lances the bull in a large muscle at the back of the neck; thus begins the work of lowering