Alexandre Dumas, also known as Alexandre Dumas père, was a renowned French novelist and playwright celebrated for his historical novels of adventure that have enthralled readers worldwide. His prominent works, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, were originally published as serials and have been adapted into nearly 200 films since the early 20th century.

Starting his career by writing plays, Dumas experienced immediate success and later contributed numerous magazine articles and travel books, amassing published works totaling 100,000 pages. In the 1840s, he established the Théâtre Historique in Paris. His father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, was born in Saint-Domingue to a French nobleman and an African slave, marking Dumas with Haitian descent and mixed race heritage.

Dumas's professional journey included working with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and achieving early triumph as a writer. Following Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte's election in 1851, Dumas's fortunes waned, leading to his departure from France. He lived in Belgium, Russia, and Italy before returning to Paris in 1864. Known for his generous and exuberant personality, Dumas also founded and published the newspaper L'Indépendent to support Italian unification.

Anecdotes from peers like English playwright Watts Phillips highlight Dumas as both immensely generous and entertainingly egotistical, with a penchant for ceaseless and animated conversation, particularly on the topic of himself.