Who Were Some Famous and Surprising Stutterers in History?

Who would ever have expected that a movie could score an Oscar for Best Picture by telling the story about a stuttering monarch? The King's Speech managed to do the impossible: make a King of England seem like a poor fella in need of our sympathy. On the other hand, it did open the floodgates for movies about these other stutterers who became famous.

Moses

It's not really certain exactly what Moses's speech impediment was, but the general consensus is that he stuttered and stammered. One thing is for certain: he didn't possess that deep, golden-voice delivery of Charlton Heston. Moses had his brother Aaron do most of his talking. By contrast, Moses spoke through actions.

James Earl Jones

Yep, that's right. Darth Vader was a stutterer. So was Mufasa. Not to mention that voice of CNN for so long. The story of James Earl Jones overcoming stuttering would prove to be about a thousand times more inspiring than The King's Speech. Jones' stuttering and stammering was so chronic that he often had to communicate through written notes yet he managed to go on to have one of the most recognizable voices of the 20th century. Any little stuttering kid could grow up to become the James Earl Jones of the 21st century; how many kids have to chance to become King of England?

Winston Churchill

England's most famous Prime Minister to be born with a penis was able to overcome his childhood stuttering and go on to become one of the most speechgivers in history. Churchill was not completely successful, however. He never did manage to overcome his difficulty pronouncing the letter S. Listen closely to Churchill's speeches and you will discover a tendency to elongate the first letter of the first word of a sentence. That tendency represents a leftover from his practice skills at learning how to overcome his stuttering.

Charles Darwin

Had Charles Darwin not stuttered, there may not today be fights against teaching evolution in science classes in American schools and Clarence Darrow's second Trial of the Century might have taken placedin Hawaii. Okay, if not Darwin, then somebody else, but history might have been significantly different had Darwin not stuttered so badly. It was his speech impediment that convinced him he wasn't suited to the life of a clergyman.

Marilyn Monroe

One of the most famous sexy voices in Hollywood history was the result of overcoming a stuttering problem. That girlish whisper was taught Marilyn Monroe as a way of controlling her stammer problems. Interesting bit of trivia: former longtime girlfriend of Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, wrote in her tell-all book following their breakup that tough guy Clint perfected his low whispery delivery by studying Marilyn Monroe's vocal delivery.