At 73 the oldest ever recipient of the best original screenplay Oscar for his script for the period drama The King’s Speech, David Seidler became an overnight spokesman for two beleaguered groups: stutterers and senior-age screenwriters. Finally receiving recognition from the youth-fixated entertainment industry after more than 40 years of service, Seidler, who has died aged 86, joked in his acceptance speech: “My father always said that I would be a late bloomer.”
That he voiced his satisfaction in flawless, actorly cadences was further testimony to Seidler’s persistence. The film – about King George VI’s struggle to overcome his speech impediment and rally the British nation against Hitler – was a labour of love born from his attempts to overcome his own stutter. These began in 1940, when a terrified Seidler, not quite three years old, embarked with his parents in a three-ship convoy taking the family from the UK to the US; one of the vessels was sunk by a German U-boat.
