What is Edmund Kean?
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Use British English|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Edmund Kean | image = Kean (Giles Overreach).jpg | alt = | caption = Kean as Sir Giles Overreach in [[Philip Massinger|Massinger's]] ''[[A New Way to Pay Old Debts]]'' | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1787|11|04|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Westminster]], London | death_date = {{Death date and age|1833|05|15|1787|11|04|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Richmond, London|Richmond (then in Surrey, now in London)]] | nationality = British | other_names = | occupation = Actor | years_active = | known_for = | spouse = {{Marriage|Mary Chambers|1808|1825}} | children = [[Charles Kean]] | notable_works = }} '''Edmund Kean''' (4 November 1787 – 15 May 1833) was a British Shakespearean stage [[actor]] born in [[England]]. ==Biography== ===Early life=== Kean was born in [[Westminster]], [[London]]. His father was Edmund Kean, an [[architect]]’s assistant, and his mother, Anne Carey, was an actress. His mother was the daughter of the 18th-century composer and playwright [[Henry Carey (writer)|Henry Carey]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=705}} Kean starting acting at the age of four, as a Cupid in [[Jean-Georges Noverre]]’s ballet of ''Cymon''. As a child, his cheerfulness made him a universal favourite, but his background and lack of discipline, helped him develop independence and stubborn habits. In 1794, a few kind-hearted people paid for his school fees. Even though he did well in school, he found it unbearable. As such, he decided to work as a cabin boy at [[Portsmouth]]. Finding life at sea even more limiting, he pretended to be [[deafness|deaf]] and lame so skilfully that he managed to trick the doctors at [[Madeira]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=705}} After returning to England, he requested for the protection of his uncle, Moses Kean, an entertainer, who introduced