Alexandre Dumas

Originally named Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, Alexandre Dumas was born on July 24, 1802. He is one of the world most widely read French writers and his worked have been translated into almost 100 languages. His historical novels include The Count of Monte Cristo, Twenty Years After, The Three Musketeers and The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. He wrote these novels as serials and his novels have been revised for films that number in the 200s.
Dumas began his writing career by writing plays and magazine articles. He also wrote travel books. He founded the Theatre Historique in Paris, France. He left France in 1851 for Belgium, then Russia and then Italy. He founded the newspaper L'Indipendente and returned to Paris in 1864. Dumas was known to be large-hearted and generous with an amusing outlook on himself. He was highly egotistical and talked continually about himself.
His first play Henry III and His Courts in 1829 met with high acclaim and his second play Christine was very popular. These plays offered Dumas enough income to write on a full-time basis. Dumas spent every penny her earned, but he also knew how to write. He founded a production studio and staffed it with writers who wrote hundreds of pieces that were all subject to Dumas' editing, additions and directions.
Dumas used other writers to help with his books. Auguste Maquet outlined the plot of The Count of Monte Cristo and made contributions to the Three Musketeers. However Maquet never did get credit for his work.
Dumas was an aristocrat and very successful but he was discriminated against due to his mixed race (his grandmother was a slave). He wrote Georges to address race and colonialism.
Dumas was married to Ida Ferrier but had many affairs and illegitimate children. To date at least 40 affairs and 7 children are known are credited to Dumas. He died on December 5, 1870 at the age of 68. He was living in France at the time.