49 Facts About Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas, known as Alexandre Dumas pere, was a French novelist and playwright.

Alexandre Dumas's works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the most widely read French authors.

Prolific in several genres, Dumas began his career by writing plays, which were successfully produced from the first.

Alexandre Dumas wrote numerous magazine articles and travel books; his published works totalled 100,000 pages.

Alexandre Dumas's father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue to Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French nobleman, and Marie-Cessette Dumas, an African slave.

At age 14, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was taken by his father to France, where he was educated in a military academy and entered the military for what became an illustrious career.

Dumas's father's aristocratic rank helped young Alexandre acquire work with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orleans, then as a writer, a career which led to early success.

Decades later, after the election of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte in 1851, Alexandre Dumas fell from favour and left France for Belgium, where he stayed for several years, then moved to Russia for a few years before going to Italy.

Alexandre Dumas was known to have had at least four illegitimate children, although twentieth-century scholars believe it was seven.

Alexandre Dumas acknowledged and assisted his son, Alexandre Dumas fils, to become a successful novelist and playwright.

Alexandre Dumas was the most delightfully amusing and egotistical creature on the face of the earth.

Alexandre Dumas had two older sisters, Marie-Alexandrine was born on 1794 and and Louise-Alexandrine.

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was the only son born to them, but they had two or three daughters.

Antoine however retained ownership of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas and took the boy with him to France.

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas did well in the Army and was promoted to general by the age of 31, the first soldier of Afro-Antilles origin to reach that rank in the French army.

In 1830, Alexandre Dumas participated in the Revolution that ousted Charles X and replaced him with Alexandre Dumas's former employer, the Duke of Orleans, who ruled as Louis-Philippe, the Citizen King.

In 1838, Alexandre Dumas rewrote one of his plays as a successful serial historical novel, Le Capitaine Paul, partly based on the life of the Scottish - American naval officer John Paul Jones.

Alexandre Dumas founded a production studio, staffed with writers who turned out hundreds of stories, all subject to his personal direction, editing, and additions.

Alexandre Dumas featured Beatrice Cenci, Martin Guerre, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia, as well as more recent events and criminals, including the cases of the alleged murderers Karl Ludwig Sand and Antoine Francois Desrues, who were executed.

Alexandre Dumas collaborated with Augustin Grisier, his fencing master, in his 1840 novel, The Fencing Master.

The novel was eventually banned in Russia by Czar Nicholas I, and Alexandre Dumas was prohibited from visiting the country until after the Czar's death.

Alexandre Dumas refers to Grisier with great respect in The Count of Monte Cristo, The Corsican Brothers, and in his memoirs.

Alexandre Dumas wrote the short novel Georges, which uses ideas and plots later repeated in The Count of Monte Cristo.

Alexandre Dumas was successful in getting more money, but not a by-line.

Alexandre Dumas's novels were so popular that they were soon translated into English and other languages.

Alexandre Dumas's writing earned him a great deal of money, but he was frequently insolvent, as he spent lavishly on women and sumptuous living.

Alexandre Dumas wrote in a wide variety of genres and published a total of 100,000 pages in his lifetime.

Alexandre Dumas made use of his experience, writing travel books after taking journeys, including those motivated by reasons other than pleasure.

Alexandre Dumas travelled to Spain, Italy, Germany, England and French Algeria.

Alexandre Dumas spent two years in Russia and visited St Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Astrakhan, Baku, and Tbilisi, before leaving to seek different adventures.

Alexandre Dumas travelled there and for the next three years participated in the movement for Italian unification.

Alexandre Dumas had numerous liaisons with other women; the scholar Claude Schopp lists nearly 40 mistresses.

Alexandre Dumas is known to have fathered at least four children by them:.

About 1866, Alexandre Dumas had an affair with Adah Isaacs Menken, an American actress who was less than half his age and at the height of her career.

Alexandre Dumas had performed her sensational role in Mazeppa in London.

Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo contains several references to hashish.

On 5 December 1870, Alexandre Dumas died at the age of 68 of natural causes, possibly a heart attack.

At his death in December 1870, Alexandre Dumas was buried at his birthplace of Villers-Cotterets in the department of Aisne.

The village eventually bowed to the government's decision, and Alexandre Dumas's body was exhumed from its cemetery and put into a new coffin in preparation for the transfer.

Chirac acknowledged the racism that had existed in France and said that the re-interment in the Pantheon had been a way of correcting that wrong, as Alexandre Dumas was enshrined alongside fellow great authors Victor Hugo and Emile Zola.

Alexandre Dumas's novels have been translated into nearly 100 languages.

Alexandre Dumas described a fictional character killing Lord Nelson.

Claude Schopp, a Alexandre Dumas scholar, noticed a letter in an archive in 1990 that led him to discover the unfinished work.

Alexandre Dumas wrote numerous stories and historical chronicles of adventure.

The Valois were the royal house of France from 1328 to 1589, and many Alexandre Dumas romances cover their reign.

Alexandre Dumas later wrote four more novels that cover this family and portray similar characters, starting with Francois or Francis I, his son Henry II, and Marguerite and Francois II, sons of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici.

Alexandre Dumas wrote many plays and adapted several of his novels as dramas.

Alexandre Dumas wrote journal articles on politics and culture and books on French history.

The other objectives of the Society are to bring together fans of Alexandre Dumas, to develop cultural activities of the Chateau de Monte-Cristo, and to collect books, manuscripts, autographs and other materials on Alexandre Dumas.