Peter O'Toole, a well-known 20th century British theatre and film actor, owned a ring that had once belonged to Kean, and he used the ring as a muse (insipration) for the writing of the second part of his autobiography "Loitering With Intent: The Apprentice" (1997). O'Toole said the line, "dying is easy; comedy is hard" and credited it to the last words of Kean in the 1982 movie "My Favorite Year".