Stuttering No Rarity Among Hollywood Stars

Inspired by the The King's Speech, I was curious to find actors and actresses, people whose career often calls upon them to speak, who suffered, at some point in their life, from a speech deficiency (whether it be a stutter or something else). That was when I came across this piece at disabled-world.com. Believe it or not some of the biggest names in the world of celebrity today at some point in their life dealt with these issues. For example, golf all-star Tiger Woods had a stutter as a child and worked to overcome it as he got older. A common tale for many modern day celebrities. So I went through the list some and picked out a handful of big names, past and present, that I thought may be of interest to you.

The King's Speech offers us a unique chance to shed light on a debilitating issue that far too often gets set aside because it lacks the flash, and inspires a reserved nature in those who have it. Bellow I've listed the actor/actress and added a few notes on things you might find of interest with respect to them.

Bruce Willis

James Earl Jones - intones,  a form in which one recites things monotone

Julia Roberts

Marilyn Monroe

Eric Roberts - claims he still does so on occasion

Rowan Atkinson - has particular trouble with B's and tends to over-articulate for comedic effect in compensation

Sam Neill

Anthony Quinn

Jimmy Stewart - though we might argue it was one of his great charming features.

Tom Sizemore

Emily Blunt

Samuel L. Jackson (took up acting at urge of speech therapist)

Harvey Keitel


Well, as you can see it is by no means a rarity! Did any of these particularly surprise you?