David Seidler, an Oscar-winning author, died in New Zealand while fly fishing at the age of 87.
The winner of an Academy Award is best known for writing the script for The King’s Speech.
There was no explanation given for why David died.
Jeff Aghassi, the Hollywood writer’s longtime manager, told Deadline on Sunday, “David was in New Zealand, doing what gave him the most peace, which was fly-fishing.”
“If given the chance, it is exactly as he would have scripted it.”
The beloved story “The King’s Speech,” which was made into a movie and did very well at the box office, was written by David.
There were four Oscars for this movie: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing.
VERY CLOSE TO THE HEART
Colin Firth, 63, played King George VI in The King’s Speech. The movie was about how hard it was for him to speak because he had a severe stutter.
David also had a stammer as a child. He has talked about how it inspired him to write about the British monarch and tell his story.
The Humanitas Prize, two BAFTAs, and the Oscar were all given to David for his screenplay.
The King’s Speech was always meant to be a movie and a play at the same time.
As he accepted his Oscar on stage, he said that it was for “all the stutterers around the world.”
He thanked “Her Majesty The Queen for not putting me in the Tower for using the F word.”
When Colin accepted the award, he joked that the movie’s release marked the “peak” of his career. Colin played George VI in the movie.
“All the people who have been rooting for [him] back home,” he said again, including his wife “Livia” for putting up with his “fleeting delusions of royalty.”
Tom Hooper, who directed “The King’s Speech,” also won the award for Best Director.
THE OKAY FROM THE QUEEN
David began his work on The King’s Speech in 1981, when he learned that the Queen Mother hired an Australian speech and language therapist named Logue to help her son.
In the 1920s, Logue was working in London when the Queen Mother hired him to help George VI, who was affectionately known as “Bertie,” with his public speaking.
Because he stutters, the King would freeze up every time he was asked to speak.
David talked to the DailyMail in 2010 about how to get permission from the royal family to make the movie.
“I asked her in writing if I could make a movie about the story. “But it was still so painful for her to have to go through again what her husband and their family went through with the abdication and him becoming king,” he said.
“It was too much and still painful, so she wrote and asked that the film not be made until after her death.”
Even though the Queen Mother died in 2002, he didn’t start the project until 2004.
DAVID’S CHILDHOOD
David was born in London, England, in July 1937, into a wealthy family.
Their apartment was bombed during WWII, so they had to move to Lingfield in Surrey and then to the United States.
One of three ships that took them across the Atlantic Ocean was sunk by German U-boats while they were on their way.
Before he turned three, David first learned to stuttered while he was on board.