I asked him why he related to King Lear and Captain Ahab, two of the most willful and driven characters in literature, but he didn't respond to the connection I was making, so I let it drop.
CHUCK JONES: Well, if they're not real, you can't do them. You can't—any more than Olivier can become either King Lear or Henry the Fifth or the Entertainer.
In Gaelic myth, Aed was one of the Children of Lir, a popular folktale that Irish children still learn today. The English gave themselves a translation of this fiery god, a name. Aed became Hugh.
Captured by his foes, arms bound behind his back, Sir Kenneth's Lear uses his beard to dry the tears of his beloved daughter Cordelia (Jessica Revell).