Alexandre Dumas

Overview

His paternal grandparents were Marie Cessete Dumas (a Haitian slave) and Marquis Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie. Antoine disapproved of their son, Thomas-Alexandre, joining the French army under the "Davy de la Pailleterie" name, so Thomas-Alexandre used his mother's surname instead. He became a valued general of Napoleon, and after he married the daughter of a local tavern owner, Thomas-Alexandre had a son of his own. This son was Alexandre Dumas, who became world-famous as the author of "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Cristo".
- IMDb mini biography by: Nichol

Claimed to have fathered over 500 children.
Dumas was a chronic insomniac, and his doctor ordered him to eat an apple a at 7:00 AM under the Arch of Triumph in Paris. The reasoning was that this would force him into a regular pattern of rising and retiring.
Was afraid of travelling to the USA because he feared being sold into slavery. He was the grandson of a woman slave from the Saint Domingue island (later renamed, Haiti), where his French father was born in 1762, and lived a large part of his life. Thrand slavery was still in existance in the USA at that time).
Although he publicly disowned his son, Alexandre Dumas (fils), he was forced to rely on him for support in his old age.
Based his famous Musketeers on real people. D'Artagnan was based on Charles Ogier de Batz de Castlemore, Comte D'Artagnan. Athos was based on Armand de Sillegue d'Athos, Aramis on Henri d'Aramitz, and Porthos on Isaac de Portau. He discovered them in a fictional memoir of the original d'Artagnan that he found in the national library by Cortilz de Sandras. Athos, Aramis and Porthos do not appear in large roles, so their physical descriptions and personalities are complete inventions on Dumas's part. When he took the book home to use it for research, he never returned it.

How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it.
To someone who insulted him about his mixed-race background: "It is true. My father was a mulatto, my grandmother was a negress, and my great-grandparents were monkeys. In short, sir, my pedigree begins where yours ends."

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