Edmund Kean
For several years, Kean's career had little chances to grow. But in 1814, the committee of Drury Lane Theatre, which was about to go bankrupt, decided to give Kean a chance among the "experiments" they were making to gain more popularity. When the hope of his first appearance in London got higher, he was so nervous that he exclaimed, "If I succeed I shall go mad." As he was unable to pay for his elder son's medical treatment for some time, his son died the day after Kean signed the three-year Drury Lane contract.