There are many references to stuttering (also called stammering) in popular culture. Because of the unusual-sounding speech that is produced, as well as the behaviors and attitudes that accompany a stutter, stuttering has been a subject of scientific interest, curiosity, discrimination, and ridicule.

History Stuttering was, and essentially still is, a riddle with a long history of interest and speculation into its causes and cures. Stutterers can be traced back centuries to the likes of Demosthenes, who tried to control his disfluency by speaking with pebbles in his mouth. The Talmud interprets Bible passages to indicate Moses was also a stutterer. Partly due to a perceived lack of intelligence because of his stutter, the man who became the Roman Emperor Claudius was initially shunned from the public eye and excluded from public office. His infirmity is also thought to have saved him from the fate of many other Roman nobles during the purges of Tiberius and Caligula.

Isaac Newton, the English scientist who developed the law of gravity, also had a stutter.Trubo, Richard (2001). "Stuttering". The New Book Of Knowledge - Health and Medicine: 112-123. United States of America: Grolier Incorporated. . Note: This annual was also published under the title The 2001 World Book Health & Medical Annual, United States of America: 2001 World Book, Inc. Other famous Englishmen who stammered were King George VI and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, both of whom led the UK through World War II. Although George VI went through years of speech therapy for his stammer, Churchill thought that his own very mild stutter added an interesting element to his voice: "Sometimes a slight and not unpleasing stammer or impairment has been of some assistance in securing the attention of the audience..." The Stuttering Foundation has a list of Famous People Who Stutter.

Variable expression The disorder is variable, which means that in certain situations, such as talking on the telephone, the stuttering might be more severe or less. In other situations, such as singing (as with country music star Mel Tillis or pop singer Gareth Gates) or speaking alone (or reading from a script, as with actor James Earl Jones and broadcast journalist John Stossel), fluency improves. (It is thought that speech production in these situations, as opposed to normal spontaneous speech, may involve a different neurological function.)

Some very mild stutterers, such as Bob Newhart, have used the disorder to their advantage, although more severe stutterers very often face serious hurdles in their social and professional lives.

Literature

The well-known author of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, hoped to become a priest but was not allowed to because of his stuttering. In response, he wrote a poem which mentions stuttering:Learn well your grammar / And never stammer / Write well and neatly / And sing soft sweetly / Drink tea, not coffee; Never eat toffy / Eat bread with butter / Once more don't stutter. (Excerpt from Rules & Regulations) Carroll's well-known stuttering trait is subliminally referenced in Alice, which features a Dodo character in one scene. As Martin Gardner pointed out in The Annotated Alice, the bird is drawn to vaguely resemble Carroll, and Carroll often tended to say his own real last name "Do-Do-Dodgson".

In JK Rowling’s first novel of the Harry Potter series, the character Professor Quirrell is portrayed as having a severe stutter and anxious personality for most of the book until his nefarious motives and affiliation with the series’ main antagonist, Voldemort, are revealed at the end, his stutter shown to be a performance to help conceal his plotting throughout the story.

A minor character in the Codex Alera series has a pronounced stutter, and it is assumed by other characters that he is simply intimidated by the situation he finds himself in. However, he soon proves that this is not the case, and that he is a brave, intelligent and resourceful young man who just happens to have a speech disfluency. After showing his competence, he is able to give reports and warnings that are taken completely seriously even though his stutter remains as strong as ever.

The author David Mitchell is a stammerer and the narrator of his novel Black Swan Green is a stammering 13-year-old boy. Various problems and work-arounds for stammerers are explored in the semi-autobiographical work.

Film

One of the most famous stuttering fictional characters is the animated cartoon character Porky Pig from the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon series. The creators of Porky wanted a character with a "timid" voice. Originally, an actual stutterer voiced the pig, but could not control his stutter. Mel Blanc, who had no speech impairments, took over the role and affected the stutter. In 1991, the National Stuttering Project picketed Warner Bros. demanding that they stop "belittling" stutterers and instead use Porky Pig as an advocate for child stutterers. The studio eventually agreed to grant $12,000 to the Stuttering Foundation of America and released a series of public service announcement posters speaking out against bullying, featuring Porky saying "Everyone's unique and th-th-that's good, folks!".Porky Pig Lawsuit is No Laughing Matter

In more recent times, films such as A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and A Family Thing (1996) have dealt with contemporary reactions to and portrayals of stuttering. In A Fish Called Wanda, a lead character, played by Michael Palin, has a severe stutter and low self-esteem. His character—who is socially awkward, nervous, an animal lover, and reclusive—portrays a prevalent stereotypical image of stutterers. The three other characters in the movie generally make up the spectrum of reactions to stuttering: Jamie Lee Curtis's character is sympathetic and sees past it, John Cleese's character is polite but indifferent, and Kevin Kline's is malicious and sadistic. Upon release the film caused controversy among some stutterers who disliked the film for its portrayal of Palin's character as a pushover amid the bullying his character receives, and received favor from others who valued the film for showing the difficulties stutterers commonly face. Palin, whose father was a stutterer, stated that in playing the role he intended to show how difficult and painful stuttering can be. He also donated to various stuttering-related causes and later allowed the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering in London to use his name.

In the 1986 film Attention bandits!, Marie-Sophie, the main character's daughter, has a stutter.Cops And Robbers With French Rules 'Bandits' Adds Dash Of Humanity To Crime-story Formula The movie received acclaim for its positive portrayal of stuttering: it was presented as the heroine's distinctive trait, rather than a drawback or a source of humor.Movies That Portray Stuttering

The 1983 film The Right Stuff referenced the real-life stuttering problem of John Glenn's wife Annie, and how it rendered her fearful and unwilling to do a news conference during his initial space flight. As he reported in his autobiography, John Glenn: A Memoir, and as shown on-screen in The Right Stuff, her stuttering was never a problem between the two of them, he "just thought of it as something Annie did". But she grew frustrated with it, and some years later put herself through intense speech therapy and was largely successful in masking the outward symptoms of stuttering. A proud moment for the both of them was the first public speech she gave on her experiences as a stutterer.

The 1967 James Bond film Casino Royale features the retired Sir James Bond (David Niven) with a stammer. When he comes out of retirement (to become M) he declares, "I don't have time for that now".

The novel (and film) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has a major character named Billy Bibbit who has a pronounced stutter. Through the story it is revealed that it has very negatively impacted his self-esteem (even leading to a suicide attempt when he stuttered through a marriage proposal and the woman laughed at him). The stutter abruptly disappears after he has sex with a prostitute that another patient smuggles on the ward.

In the 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny, a public defender (played by Austin Pendleton) tries to cross-examine the first witness introduced by the prosecution, but has a pronounced stutter and is ineffective. He is eventually fired and replaced by Vinny.

In the film Rocket Science, the main character Hal Hefner has a stutter.

In the 1972 western The Cowboys, one of the boys riding herd for Wil Andersen, named Bob, had a severe stutter.

In M. Night Shyamalan's 2006 film Lady in the Water, Paul Giamatti's character has a pronounced stutter that selectively disappears when he interacts with Bryce Dallas Howard's character.

In the 2012 film Parental Guidance, a major character named Turner has a light stutter which he resolved with practice.

In the 2017 film It, as well as the 1986 book and 1990 miniseries, the character Bill Denbrough has a severe stuttering issue, which was described as having "got worse since his kid brother died". Throughout the movie he stutters profusely, the impairment worsening when he is scared or nervous. In the 2019 sequel It Chapter Two, adult Bill has been seen to have overcome his speech impairment, but it recurs in mere seconds after Mike Hanlon calls to tell Bill the news of Pennywise's return.

In the 2006 film Buddy Boy, Aidan Gillen's character Francis deals with stuttering, isolation, poverty, and a verbally abusive mother. He helps a woman and they eventually become romantically involved. As their relationship grows, he doubts whether she truly loves him despite his flaws. A series of events happen and it is unclear whether Francis makes a discovery or is ill.

The Academy Award-winning film The King's Speech (2010) features a stuttering George VI as played by Colin Firth, based on original screenplay by David Seidler who also used to stutter as a child until age 16.

The 2015 Indian film Su.. Su... Sudhi Vathmeekam starring jayasurya had portrayed the life of a real life person who overcomes the challenges faced in life due to stammering.

Benicio del Toro's character in Star Wars: The Last Jedi known only as "DJ" frequently stutters.

In the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, has a mild stutter.

Television The seemingly deaf-mute protagonist played by James MacArthur in the 1958 Studio One episode, "Tongues of Angels", is in fact just feigning those conditions to mask his severe stutter."Review: Studio One in Hollywood". Time Magazine. March 31, 1958. pp. 41–42. "As a chronic stutterer who masqueraded as a deaf mute to avoid speaking, fledgling actor James MacArthur, 20, turned The Tongues of Angels into one of the best hours of Studio One since the rating-rickety show deserted Manhattan for Hollywood last January."

An episode of the hit TV show M*A*S*H involved a stuttering soldier who was convinced he was unintelligent and constantly harassed by his fellow soldiers - and by his commanding officer. The usually pompous Major Charles Winchester (David Ogden Stiers, himself a reformed stutterer) takes it upon himself to prove the soldier is just as intelligent (if not more, since Winchester discovers the young man has a very high IQ) as the rest of his unit, even giving him a treasured copy of Moby-Dick to read. Winchester had earlier told off the CO for mocking the stuttering, threatening to report his "inhumanity". At the end of the episode, Winchester retires to his tent and listens happily to a tape-recorded letter from his sister, who is revealed to have a pronounced stutter.

Ronnie Barker's character in Open All Hours has a stutter, which sometimes gets him into trouble. His nephew mocks him for it.