Former Great Neck resident David Seidler became the oldest writer to win an Oscar for best original screenplay when he received the award for “The Kings Speech” during the 83rd Academy Awards Ceremony Sunday night.
“My father always said to me I would be a late bloomer,” said Seidler, 73, in his acceptance speech.
“The Kings Speech” not only showed the story of a British Monarch overcoming his stammering problem to rally his people for war, but reflected on an infliction Seidler himself had suffered as a child.
After relocating to the U.S. with his parents from England, Seidler grew up in Long Island and graduated from Great Neck High School in 1955 – one year ahead of Academy Award-winning director Francis Ford Coppola, also from the pennisnsula.
Seidler’s stuttering as a child sparked his interest in the story of King George VI, the King who beat his stammer with the help of speech therapist Lionel Logue. He began to research the king’s story in the 1970s when a friend in London helped him located Valentine Logue, the only surviving son of Lionel Logue.
The younger Logue offered Seidler access to his father’s notebooks on one condition: approval from the Queen Mother, George’s widow. However, the Queen refused, arguing that the story was too painful to revisit during her lifetime. Seidler did not access the notebooks until after the Queen’s death in 2002, Newsweek reported.
According to Newsweek, Seidler had long wanted to make “The King’s Speech.” Seidler said he was inspired to overcome his own stutter by King George, portrayed by Colin Firth in the film.
Accepting the award, Seidler reflected on what it represented to him, and to the others who shared his affliction.
“I say this on behalf of all the stutterers in the world, we have a voice, we have been heard,” Seidler said during his acceptance speech Sunday night. He also thanked his family including his daughter Maya and son Mark who grew up in Great Neck.
Seidler was originally fled with his family to America during world war II. It wasn’t until adolescence that Seidler was able to overcome his stuttering problem, going through some of the same speech therapies shown in “The Kings speech,” even stuffing marbles in his mouth while he recited words.
Seidler had no trouble giving his acceptance speech Sunday, using it to inspire others out there with speech difficulties. “People still have the archaic notion that we stutters are feebleminded simply because it is difficult for us to articulate our thoughts,” Seidler was reported saying backstage.
“I’m very proud of David, and wish him my sincerest congratulations,” said Seidler’s high school classmate, Richard Meyers.
