David Seidler, the award-winning screenwriter of the acclaimed drama film The King’s Speech, has died at the age of 86.
He died on Saturday, March 16, Deadline reports, during a fly-fishing expedition in New Zealand.
No official cause of death has been given.
Seidler was best known as the screenwriter for the celebrated British film starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Geoffrey Rush as his speech therapist Lionel Logue.
As well as Seidler’s win for Best Original Screenplay, the film also won Best Actor (for Firth), Best Director (for Tom Hooper) and Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards.
Seidler’s longtime manager Jeff Aghassi released the following statement:
“David was in the place he loved most in the world – New Zealand – doing what gave him the greatest peace which was fly-fishing.
“If given the chance, it is exactly as he would have scripted it.”
The King’s Speech was originally intended as a screenplay and drew from Seidler’s own experiences with a childhood speech impediment.
He also received two BAFTAs and the Humanitas Prize for the screenplay.
His manager Aghassi praised Seidler as a natural storyteller, either with friends at a meal cooked by himself, or through his screen and stage work.
A stage version of the film has since been translated into more than half a dozen languages and performed on four continents.
Seidler’s other work includes Onasiss: The Richest Man in the World (1988) and Tucker: The Man and his Dream (1988).
He had several other projects still in-development at the time of his death.
The writer is survived by two adult children, Marc and Maya.
