The New Student's Reference Work/Kean, Edmund

Kean, Edmund, a distinguished English actor, was born at London in 1787. He exhibited signs of dramatic genius at an early age, and in 1814 made his debut in Drury Lane theater in London in the character of Shylock. He at once took rank as the leading actor of the day, and his subsequent appearance as Hamlet, Othello and other Shakespearean characters showed still more clearly the greatness of his power and his mastery of all phases of tragic emotion. Unhappily his irregularities of life were as marked as his talents; and his reputation was well-nigh ruined by the case of Cox vs. Kean in 1825. After the trial Kean paid a visit to America, remaining till the close of 1826, and on his return home he re-appeared on the stage; but his powers of body and mind were so impaired that he seemed little more than a wreck of his former self. His last appearance was at Covent Garden, March 25, 1833, when he suddenly broke down and fell insensible into the arms of his son. He never appeared on the stage again, and died at Richmond on the 5th of May following. See Lives by Barry Cornwall, F. W. Hawkins and G. T. Molloy.