- Written by Thomas Mackintosh
- BBC News
image source, Getty Images
David Seidler won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2011 for The King’s Speech.
David Seidler, best known as the screenwriter for the Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech, has died at the age of 86.
A London-born playwright who suffered from a stutter has brought to screen the true story of how King George VI overcame his speech impediment.
The 2010 film starred Colin Firth, who won a BAFTA and an Oscar for his portrayal of the King.
Seidler has also worked on the stage adaptation of the film, which opened in the West End in 2012.
He dedicated his 2011 Oscar to “all the stutterers around the world” and thanked the Queen for “not putting me up in the tower for using the F-word” at the time.
Seidler’s manager, Jeff Agassi, confirmed to the BBC that Seidler passed away on Saturday.
“David was in his favorite place in the world, New Zealand, doing what gave him the greatest comfort: fly fishing,” Agassi said.
“If given the chance, it’s exactly what he wrote the script for.”
image source, Getty Images
David Seidler (fifth from left) stands next to actors including Colin Firth (third from left) at the 68th Golden Globe Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in January 2011.
Seidler also wrote other projects throughout her career, including the children’s musicals The King and I, The Quest for Camelot, and Madeline: Lost in Paris.
Seidler won his first Writers Guild Award for the 1988 biopic Onassis: The Richest Man in the World, starring Raul Julia as Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
He also co-wrote Francis Ford Coppola’s 1988 comedy-drama Tucker.
But it was for The King’s Speech that he was best known. The plot tells the story of King George VI, who overcomes his severe stuttering in the run-up to World War II, and his unexpected friendship with speech therapist Lionel Logue.
In February 2011, Seidler won two BAFTAs and a few months later, in September, he received the Humanitas Award for his work.
Mr Agassi said the West End stage version of The King’s Speech had been translated into “more than six languages”, including Italian, Japanese and Spanish.
The production has been performed on four continents, with a Broadway run only interrupted in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“David focused on the lessons of life, love, loss, and rebirth,” Agassi said.
“He continued to work on ideas that interested him, and at the time of his death, multiple projects were in active development, including documentaries, limited series, and feature films.”
Additional reporting by Aruna Iyengar
