David Seidler (4 August 1937 – 16 March 2024) was a British-American playwright and film and television writer.

Seidler is most known for writing the scripts for the stage version and screen version for the story The King's Speech. For the film, he won the Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay.

Early life and family Seidler was born in London, where he spent his early childhood. He grew up in an upper-middle class Jewish family.Naomi Pfefferman (23 November 2010). Screenwriter's stammer inspires 'Speech' . Jewish Journal His mother Doris was a print-maker and graphic artist. His father Bernard was a fur broker who bought bales of pelts on commission. He had an office in New York City. Seidler immigrated to the United States with his family in the early part of World War II during the London Blitz. The ship they sailed on was a member of a convoy of three ships; on the way one of these, carrying Italian prisoners-of-war from North Africa, was sunk by German U-boats. It was on the voyage to the US that Seidler developed a stammer, before he celebrated his third birthday.

Seidler subsequently grew up on Long Island, New York.David Seidler – Script Writer of The King's Speech (Episode 240) Stuttertalk, Podcast, (retrieved 27/01/10) Seidler believed that his stutter might have been a response to the emotional trauma of the war. Thinking it would make others feel uncomfortable, as a teenager he often chose to keep quiet.

Numerous forms of speech therapy failed him, until, at 16, he had a breakthrough. "I resolved that if I was going to stutter for the rest of my life, people were going to be stuck listening to me. I had been depressed, but now I was angry – I decided I deserved to be heard." That is when, in rage he spoke the 'F' word, or "naughty word" as he recalled decades later. Two weeks later he auditioned for his school play, Shaw's Androcles and the Lion and even got a small role, of a Christian getting eaten by a lion. In 2005, he used it in a scene in his stage play about George VI. Seidler later attended Cornell University, where he graduated with a degree in English in 1959.

As he grew older he decided to write and his first work was The Adventures of a Penny about a penny's travel from hand to hand. In an interview Seidler recalled George VI as a childhood hero, who gave him hope as he listened to his wartime speeches as a child, encouraged by his parents, "David, he was a much worse stutterer than you, and listen to him now. He's not perfect. But he can give these magnificent, stirring addresses that rallied the free world." they would say.

Career Seidler arrived in Hollywood at the age of 40, and his first job there was writing Tucker: The Man and His Dream for Francis Ford Coppola. For some years he was a member of the Feather & Seidler writing team with Jacqueline Feather.

Always wanting to write about George VI, and being a stutterer himself, Seidler started researching in the 1970s. After finding the surviving son of Lionel Logue, Valentine Logue, a brain surgeon, he wrote him in 1981. In turn, Logue was keen to talk with Seidler and even share the notebooks his father kept while treating the King, but on the condition that he received "written permission from the Queen Mother" first. Upon writing to her, Seidler received a reply from her private secretary, asking him not to pursue the project during her lifetime. Consequently, Seidler abandoned the project in 1982.

The Queen Mother died in 2002, but Seidler didn't start the work until 2005, when he suffered from throat cancer, and returned to the story during a bout of creative work it inspired. Eventually, he wrote the first draft of his screenplay, and his then-wife and writing partner suggested that he rewrite it as a stage play, as an exercise. She felt that the "physical confines of the stage would force him to focus on the key relationships in the story, without the distractions imposed by concern for cinematic technique." In 2011 Seidler won a BAFTA award for Best Original Screenplay, and later an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film The King's Speech.

When writing the script, Seidler discovered that his own uncle, also named David and also a stutterer, had been sent to see Lionel Logue by his father (Seidler's grandfather).

Death Seidler died in New Zealand on 16 March 2024, at the age of 86. He was married to Mary Ann Tharaldsen, Huia Newton and Jacqueline Feather.

Writing credits Year Title Notes 1965–1967Adventures of the Seaspray 6 episodes 1981Another World 1 episode 1985Malice in Wonderland TV film 1988Onassis: The Richest Man in the World TV film 1988My Father, My Son TV film 1988Tucker: The Man and His Dream Feature film (co-credit with Arnold Schulman,) 1993Whose Child Is This? The War for Baby Jessica TV film, co-written with Jacqueline Feather 1995Dancing in the Dark TV film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 1997Lies He Told TV film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 1997Time to Say Goodbye? Feature film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 1998Goldrush: A Real Life Alaskan Adventure TV film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 1998Quest for Camelot Feature film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 1999The King and I Feature film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 1999Come On, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story TV film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 1999Madeline: Lost in ParisDirect-to-video film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 2000By Dawn's Early Light TV film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 2003 TV film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 2006Son of the Dragon 2 episodes (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 2008Kung Fu Killer TV film (co-written with Jacqueline Feather) 2010The King's Speech Feature film 2016Queen of Spades Feature film

Awards and nominations Year Award Work Category Result Reference1989Writers Guild of America AwardMy Father, My SonOriginal Long Form (with Jacqueline Feather) Onassis: The Richest Man in the WorldAdapted Long Form (with Jacqueline Feather; tied with Susan Cooper for the Hallmark Hall of Fame episode "Foxfire".) 2002By Dawn's Early LightChildren's Script (with Jacqueline Feather) 2010Alliance of Women Film Journalists AwardThe King's SpeechBest Writing, Original ScreenplayAwards Circuit Community AwardsBest Original Screenplay (2nd place)Davis Award for Best Original ScreenplayBritish Independent Film AwardsBest ScreenplayChicago Film Critics Association AwardsBest Screenplay, OriginalDenver Film Critics SocietyBest Writing, Original ScreenplayLos Angeles Film Critics Association AwardsBest Screenplay (2nd place)San Diego Film Critics Society AwardsBest Screenplay, OriginalSan Francisco Film Critics CircleBest Original ScreenplaySatellite AwardsBest Original ScreenplaySoutheastern Film Critics Association AwardsBest Screenplay, OriginalSt. Louis Film Critics AssociationBest Original ScreenplayVillage Voice Film PollBest ScreenplayWashington DC Area Film Critics Association AwardsBest Original Screenplay2011Academy AwardBest Original ScreenplayGolden Globe AwardBest Screenplay – Motion PictureBritish Academy Film Awards Best Original ScreenplayAlexander Korda Award for Best British Film (with Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin, Iain Canning and Tom Hooper)Central Ohio Film Critics Association AwardsBest Screenplay, OriginalChlotrudis AwardsBest Original ScreenplayCritics' Choice Movie AwardBest Original ScreenplayEuropean Film AwardsBest Film (with Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin, Iain Canning and Tom Hooper)Humanitas PrizeFeature Film CategoryItalian Online Movie AwardsBest Original ScreenplayLondon Critics Circle Film AwardsScreenwriter of the YearNational Society of Film Critics AwardsBest Screenplay (2nd place)Online Film & Television Association AwardsBest Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the ScreenOnline Film Critics Society AwardsBest Screenplay, OriginalToronto Film Critics Association AwardsBest Screenplay

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