Profile of Juan Belmonte on Famous Like Me

Juan Belmonte y García (April 14, 1892-April 8, 1962) was considered the greatest matador of all time, and he revolutionised the art of bullfighting.

Born in the Triana area of Seville, Belmonte began his bullfighting career in 1908, touring around Spain in a children's bullfighting group called Los Niños Sevillanos. He killed his first bull on July 24, 1910. As an adult, his technique was unlike that of previous matadors; he stood erect and nearly motionless, and always stayed within inches of the bull, unlike previous matadors, who stayed far from the animal to avoid the horns. As a result of this daring technique, Belmonte was frequently gored, sustaining many serious wounds.

Belmonte's rivalry with Joselito, another contender for the appelation "greatest matador of all time", from 1914 to 1920 is known as the Golden Age of Bullfighting, though it was tragically cut short when Joselito was fatally gored on May 16, 1920, at a corrida in which both he and Belmonte appeared.

In 1919, Belmonte fought 109 corridas, a number not matched by any matator before or since.

After his retirement, Belmonte published an autobiography. Written with Manuel Chaves Nogales and published in 1937, it was called "Juan Belmonte, Killer of Bulls". Belmonte was also close friends with author Ernest Hemingway, and he appears prominently in Hemingway's book "Death in the Afternoon". Like Hemingway, Belmonte ultimately committed suicide by gunshot.

A movie about his life, titled Belmonte and directed by Juan Sebastián Bollaín, was released in 1995.

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