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".