Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (miˈɣel ðe θerˈβantes saaˈβeðra in modern Spanish; September 29, 1547 - April 23, 1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, painter and playwright. Cervantes is one of the most important and influential people in literature and the leading figure associated with the Siglo de Oro, the cultural flourishing of sixteenth century Spain. Cervantes' novel Don Quixote is considered a founding classic of Western literature and regularly figures among the best novels ever written. His work is considered among the most important in all of literature. He has been dubbed el Príncipe de los Ingenios (the Prince of Wits).

Cervantes, born in Alcalá de Henares, was the fourth of seven children, of a doctor in a family whose origins may have been of the minor gentry. The family moved from town to town, and little is known of Cervantes's early years. In his early life he went on to work under a cardinal in the Catholic Church. By 1570 he had been enlisted as a soldier in a Spanish infantry regiment and continued his military life until 1575, when he was captured by barbary pirates on his return home. He was ransomed by his captors and the Trinitarians and returned to his family in Madrid.

In 1585, Cervantes published a pastoral novel, La Galatea. Because of financial problems, Cervantes worked as a purveyor for the Spanish Armada, and later as a tax collector. In 1597 discrepancies in his accounts of three years previous landed him in the Crown Jail of Seville. In 1605 he was in Valladolid, just when the immediate success of the first part of his Don Quixote, published in Madrid, signaled his return to the literary world. In 1607, he settled in Madrid, where he lived and worked until his death. During the last nine years of his life, Cervantes solidified his reputation as a writer; he published the Exemplary Novels (Novelas ejemplares) in 1613, the Journey to Parnassus (Viaje del Parnaso) in 1614, and in 1615, the Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses and the second part of Don Quixote. Carlos Fuentes noted that, "Cervantes leaves open the pages of a book where the reader knows himself to be written. "

Third of four Don Quixote films featuring Fernando Rey in some role. In this one, he played Don Quixote. He was previously in Don Quijote de la Mancha (1947) and "Don Quijote" (1965), and would later be in Don Quijote de Orson Welles (1992).

The miniseries covers only the first half of the novel. Director Manuel Gutierrez Aragon filmed the second half eleven years later as a theatrical release, "El Caballero Don Quijote". He used an entirely different cast for the second film.