Alexandre Dumas (père)

Alexandre Dumas (called Dumas père to distinguish him from his son, the playwright Alexandre Dumas fils) was a French novelist and dramatist. Grandson of a French nobleman and an enslaved African woman, he rose from a modest provincial upbringing to become one of the most widely read authors of the nineteenth century. He first found success in the Paris theatre, then turned to serialized historical fiction, producing "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Cristo" among hundreds of works. He worked with collaborators, notably Auguste Maquet. Prolific spending drove him into debt and periodic travel and exile. He died near Dieppe in 1870; his remains were later moved to the Panthéon.