For all the despicable nobodies who take their preverse plesure mocking and denigrating George W. Bush for not being a brilliant speaker, here is list of people were also challenged in that field:
FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO STUTTER
(The above picture was developed by
Darrell Dodge and is used with permission. The list that follows was compiled by Judy Kuster from an NSP handout and personal additions from various resources, including
Knotted Tongues, a book by Benson Bobrick, and
Stuttering and Other Fluency Disorders, by Franklin Silverman - with hypertext links to several internet references.)
In the past:
- Aesop - Greek storyteller, and a huge collection of his fables
- Walter H. Annenberg - publisher, broadcaster, diplomat and philanthropist.
- Aristotle
- Notker Balbulus (the Stammerer), a Dark Ages monk who played important roles in both plainchant and the development of our calendar.
- Balbus Blaesius - A Roman who was in a "freak show." People would give him money to stutter. His last name is the Italian word for stuttering
- Clara Barton - Founder of the American Red Cross.
- Baudouin the Lannoy, a knight of the golden fleece - portrait by Jan Van Eyck in the State Museum in Berlin.
- Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury
- Arnold Bennett - British writer and journalist.
- Michael Bentine - British comedian, script-writer, and reader of children's books
- Jorge Luis Borges - (1899-1986) was the author of Labyrinths and Ficciones, among other books.
- Aneurin Bevan - British Labor Party Leader in 1930's.
- Kenneth E. Boulding - economist
- Elizabeth Bowen - Irish writer
- Robert Boyle (1627-1691) - British scientist and moral essayist who made important contributions to physics and chemistry and is best known for Boyle's law
- Patrick Campbell - British humorist.
- Lewis Carroll - Author of Alice in Wonderland.
- Field Marshall Lord Carver - British military leader.
- Nicolae Ceausecsu - President of Romania in the 1970's
- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author of Don Quixote de la Mancha (as cited by Malveena McKendrick, Cervantes, Little, Brown, 1980, p. 21.).
- General Joshua Chamberlain, one of the heroes of the Battle of Gettysburg and college professor of literature (source: Military History magazine).
- King Charles I - King of England, 1625-1649.
- Winston Churchill - Prime Minister of Great Britain World War II. - Audio Archive of many of Winston Churchill's speeches (Point of information, the following page claims that Churchill did not suffer from stutering, but from a lisp. I have heard and seen video tapes of Churchill. However, there is ample evidence uncovered by Keith Sharp that my cousin (yes he was;-) stuttered, JAK).
- Claudius - Roman Emperor. www.salve.edu/~romanemp/claudius.htm
- Ty Cobb - according to a biography, Cobb: A Biography by Al Stump (1994)
- Hazen "Kiki" Cuyler - a Hall of Fame outfielder for the Pirates in the '20s. His nickname is pronounced with long I's; i.e, Ky-Ky. Reason: He was a stutterer, and often pronounced his last name Ky-ky-ler. (posted by Bob Wells on Stutt-l, August 12, 1997)
- Nat King Cole - In an interview, Cole biographer, Daniel Epstein states that Cole had a stutter as a child and a bit of a lisp which you can hear in the early recordings in his career. If you want to listen to the interview via Real Audio, open and move the cursor on the Real Audio player a little past midway (I count 10 dots).
- Richard Condon - Novelist whose works include The Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor.
- Charles Darwin - Naturalist and author of The Origin of Species.
- Erasmus Darwin - Famous physician, scientist, and grandfather of Charles.
- Marion Davies "one of the few silent stars to survive the transition to talkies."
- Dekanawida - Iroquois Indian leader in the 1500's
- Demosthenes - Greek orator by Plutarch, written 75 A.D. as well as several of the writings/orations of Demonsthenes
- Mary Louise "Stuttering Sam" Dowell became the most celebrated showgirl in New York City.
- Niccolo Fontana, nicknamed Tartaglia(stammerer) because of his speech - an Italian mathematician famous for his algebraic solution of cubic equations. Read about what caused his speech problems and decide for yourself if he stuttered or not.
- Harley Earl, one of the most famous car designers ever. (Source: American Heritage magazine).
- King George VI - King of England, 1937-1952.
- Robert Heinlein - Science fiction writer
- Sir John R. Hicks - British economist who received the Nobel price in economics in 1972.
- Leigh Hunt a writer of the early Romantic period and a classmate of Charles Lamb.
- Henry James - American Novelist.
- Thomas Jefferson - President
- Washington Irving (author)
- Alfred Kazin - author, critic and teacher
- Charles Canon Kingsley -- English orator, writer, and chaplain to Queen Victoria.
- Charles Lamb - British essayist, on his stuttering.
- John "Scatman" Larkin - jazz musician
- Philip Larkin - English poet, novelist and critic
- Lenin
- Louis II the Stammerer, King of France, 877-879
- Henry Luce - Founder of Time magazine and Sports Illustrated
- Raymond Massey - Actor.
- Cotton Mather - Puritan leader and famous preacher.
- Somerset Maugham - British writer considered one of the best short story writers of all time, including Of Human Bondage, an autobiographical novel which substitutes a physical disability for the author's stuttering problem.
- Robert Merrill -- Opera singer.
- Michael II, Byzantine Emperor 820-829,succeeded Leo V to the Byzantine crown in 820, and on his death in 829 was succeeded by his son Theophilus.
- Christopher Robin Milne, the original Christopher Robin.
- Moses - Hebrew prophet.
- Moses Mendelssohn - Grandfather of the composer.
- Molotov, the Russian Foreign Minister under Stalin.
- Marilyn Monroe - Actress.
- Garry Moore - game show host - "I've Got a Secret"
- Napoleon the First
- Isaac Newton - Scientist, developed the Law of Gravity.
- Jack Harold Paar - US comedian & television host; 1st host of show "The Tonight Show" 1957-1962
- Kim Philby - British spy.
- Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) -- the English chemist and scholar who identified/discovered oxygen
- Ludwig Quidde Nobel Peace Prize recipient, 1927.
- Anthony Quinn - Actor.
- Michael Ramsey (one hundredth Archbishop of Canterbury)
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Mario Savio - 1960's Free Speech leader at Berkeley
- Nevil Shute (1900-1960)-- English novelist and aeronautical engineer.
- John Slaughter - Arizona sheriff in the 1880's
- Jimmy Stewart - Actor.
- Alan Turing, founder of computer science.
- Kenneth Tynan - Well known British drama critic.
- Virgil - Roman poet.
- George Washington
- The following historical figures from China, are reported to have stuttered in parts of their life. They are provided by Stefan Hoffman.
- Guan Zhong (ancient time politician)
- Han Feizi (ancient time scholar)
- Lu Xun (20 century most famous Chinese writer)
- Guo Muoruo (20 century writer)
- Zhan Tianyo (Famous railway engineer)
- Guang Xu (Emperor of Qing Dynasty)
Contemporary Figures:
- Prince Albert of Monaco
- Rowan Atkinson - British actor who plays Mr. Bean
- Butch Baird - Golfer.
- Antonio Bassolino - Mayor of Naples
- P. F. Bentley - professional photographer - Photographs by PF Bentley: 25 Years of Photojournalism
- Senator Joseph Biden, Democrat from Delaware.
- Howard Bingham - professional photographer and biographer of Muhammed Ali. Additional information about Bingham's work.
- Arthur M. Blank - co-founder of the Home Depot and owner of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons
- Peter Bonerz - Actor (Jerry the orthodontist) on The Bob Newhart show
- Nicolas Brendon, movie star, reports that he stuttered significantly until after high school.
- Patrick Campbell - British humorist
- Rubin Carter - professional boxer - 'Hurricane' by Tom Tozer relates that Rubin "Hurricane" Carter stuttered as a child. Carter's story, made into a movie starring Danzell Washington, is about a "professional middleweight boxer who was arrested in 1966 for the murder of three whites, sentenced to a triple-life term and finally exonerated in 1988." Tozer's article states, "As a youngster, Carter used his fists to help dissuade others from laughing at his stuttering." The information about his stuttering is also found here.
- Lord David Cecil - Professor of English literature at Oxford in 1950s and author of Melbourne, one of The Board of the Modern Library's100 Best Nonfiction books of the century
- Proinsias De Rossa - a political leader of the Democrat Left in Ireland.
- Margaret Drabble - British novelist.
- Harley Earl - car designer
- Jake Eberts - Film producer (Gandhi, Dances with Wolves)
- Noel Gallagher guitarist from the rock band, Oasis.
- Gareth Gates - pop star, UK
- Mrs. Annie Glenn - Wife of astronaut and Senator John Glenn.
- Sidney Gottlieb - controversial CIA psychologist
- Horace Grant - Orlando Magic power forward
- James Griffin - the producer and presenter of the ABC TV's Last Word and is an occasional contributor to Books and Writing on ABC Radio National, Australia
- Sophie Gustafson, Swedish Professional Golfer who won the Ladies Professional Golf Association British Open, August 2000.
- Ron Harper - Current star with the Chicago Bulls. Interesting article - Harper's struggle with stuttering proves his courage from The Sporting News.
- Lester Hayes - Former All-Pro defensive back with the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders.
- Steven Hawking - scientist
- Howard Heyman - lab chief for the Newsweek photo lab
- Vernon Hill chairman and founder of Commerce Bancorp and Commerce Bank
- Edward Hoagland - essayist and contemporary nature writer. The football game in my head US News and World Report article about Edward Hoagland
- Bo Jackson - Football and baseball star.
- Samuel L. Jackson, movie star, Chill Factor, an article that describes his stuttering.
- Tommy John - Former Yankee pitcher.
- Ben Johnson - Runner.
- Paul Johnson - Detective novelist, author of Killing the Blues
- James Earl Jones - Actor. Jones intones
- Thomas Kean - Governor of New Jersey from1982-1990
- Harvey Keitel - actor
- Pat Leahy - N.Y. Jets kicker.
- Peggy Lipton - Actress.
- Greg Louganis - Olympic diver.
- Bob Love - Basketball star with Chicago Bulls in 60's and 70's.
- Alvin Lucier - American composer
- <A href="http://www.cincypost.com/2002/mar/19/martin031902.html">Kenyon Martin, forward for the New Jersey Nets (NBA basketball team).
- Michael McCurdy - Book Illustrator / Author / Publisher / wood engraver
- Dr. Jonathan Miller - British director and critic.
- John Montague - a Northern Irish poet, essayist, and story writer.
- Sam Neill - Actor.
- Bruce Oldfield - British fashion designer.
- Austin Pendleton - Actor.
- Adrian Peterson running back for the Chicago Bears.
- Alan R. Rabinowitz - conservationist
- Eric Roberts, actor
- Henry Rogers - Public relations pioneer.
- Nino Salvatore - Past president of Medicine at the University of Naples
- Budd Schulberg - auther, screenplay - On The Waterfront and musical, What Makes Sammy Run
- David Shields - American novelist
- Nevil Shute - English novelist and aeronautical engineer
- Carly Simon - Singer.
- Michael Spinks - light heavyweight boxing champion
- Jake Steinfeld - Bodybuilder, television fitness trainer
- John Stossel - Reporter, ABC's 20/20.
- Peter Straub, horror story author.
- Dave Taylor - Former hockey star with the L.A. Kings.
- Duane Thomas - a running back for the Dallas Cowboy's in the early 70's, according to interview with Larry Merchant, on Real Sports, HBO
- Mel Tillis - Country-western singer. An interesting FAX sent to Art Nefsky from Mel Tillis on September 30, 1997, about his stuttering, is online.
- Chris Trapper, musician - The Push Stars rock band
- Kenneth Tynan - British drama critic
- John Updike -Novelist.
- Ken Venturi - Golfer. Won U.S. Open in 1961. (An interview with Ken Venturi where he talks about his stuttering.)
- Bill Walton - professional basketball player, sportscaster
- John F. Welch, Jr. - Chairman of General Electric.
- Bruce Willis - Actor.
- Robert Wilson - Sculptor and theater director
- Bill Withers (1938- ), singer and songwriter, whose first hit, Ain't No Sunshine, went to number three in 1971, won a Grammy for best R&B song, and was heard in the movie Notting Hill. His biggest hit was Lean on Me, which went to number one in 1972. He also recorded Use Me, which peaked at number two in 1972 and is on the soundtrack to American Beauty. The Gap used his song Lovely Day in its 1999 advertising campaign. Withers married Denice Nicholas, a star on ABC's TV series Room 222. He was born in Slab Fork, near Beckley. Withers dropped out of school after the ninth grade and spent nine years in the Navy, where he underwent speech therapy to overcome a stuttering problem. After his discharge, he delivered milk and worked for Ford Motor Co., IBM, and Lockheed. from Famous West Virginians
- Congressman Frank Wolf, Republican from VA.
- Chris Zorich - Chicago Bears' lineman.
Controversial and cartoon personalities who stutter
The NSA has a beautiful color poster which depicts nine personages from the past. we also have two inspirational books available about the role stuttering played in the lives of the people above:
Not Good at Talking and
Knotted Tongues: Stuttering in History and the Quest for a Cure. See the Bookstore for additional information.
YouTube presentations of
Famous People Who Stutter and >
Famous Stutterers
Famous People Who Stutter - website from the Stuttering Foundation. added December 15, 1995, with permission NSP
last updated November 9, 2008(JAK)
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