This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.
Greek orator Demosthenes practicing oratory at the beach with pebbles in his mouth
Stuttering (alalia syllabaris), also known as stammering (alalia literalis or anarthria literalis), is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks during which the person who stutters is unable to produce sounds.[1] The exact etiology of stuttering is unknown; both genetics and neurophysiology are thought to contribute.[2] There are many treatments and speech-language pathology techniques available that may help increase fluency in some people who stutter to the point where an untrained ear cannot perceive stuttering; however, there is essentially no cure for the disorder at present.[3][4]
People who stutter include British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, orator Demosthenes, King George VI, actor James Earl Jones, US President Joe Biden, and country singer Mel Tillis. Churchill, whose stutter was particularly apparent to 1920s writers,[5] was one of the 30% of people who stutter who have an associated speech disorder—a lisp in his case—and led his nation through World War II.[6][7] Demosthenes stammered and was inarticulate as a youth, and, through dedicated practice using methods such as placing pebbles in his mouth, became a great orator of Ancient Greece.[8] King George VI hired speech therapist Lionel Logue to enable him to speak more easily to his Empire, and Logue effectively helped him accomplish this goal.[9] This training and its results are the focus of the 2010 film The King's Speech.[10] James Earl Jones has stated he was mute for many years of his youth, and he became an actor noted for the power of his voice.[11][12] Mel Tillis stutters when talking but not when singing.[13] Many people had their speech impairment only during childhood.[14]
Actor James Earl Jones in 2013Emily Blunt in 2014German silent film actor Bruno Kastner c. 1920Actress Marilyn Monroe in 1953's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Charles DarwinKing George VI of the United Kingdom c. 1940–1946Zoologist Alan RabinowitzMathematician Niccolò Tartaglia later in lifeAlan Turing at age 16
Bill Denbrough – the main protagonist of Stephen King's 1986 novel It. Bill has a stutter, due to being hit by a car at the age of three, which leads to him being outcast. He outgrows his stutter as an adult; however, it comes back when he learns of It's return and returns to Derry.
Marie-Sophie, female lead in Attention bandits! (1987). The movie received recognition for its positive portrayal of stuttering, as Marie-Sophie's speech impediment is depicted as just a distinctive trait of hers, rather than as a detraction or a source of humor.[192][193]
Ken Pile, one of the main characters in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), a gangster and an animal lover with a stutter.[193]
Porky Pig – cartoon character in the Warner Bros.Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Porky's most distinctive trait is a severe stutter, for which he sometimes compensates by replacing his words; for example, "What's going on?" might become "What's guh-guh-guh-guh—...what's happening?" Porky shared his stutter with the voice actor who originally played him, Joe Dougherty, who was actually a person who stuttered. Because Dougherty could not control his stutter, however, production costs became too high as his recording sessions took hours, and Porky's additional lines were done by Count Cutelli.[194]Mel Blanc replaced Dougherty in 1937. Blanc continued the stutter; however, it was harnessed for a more precise comedic effect (such as stumbling over a simple word only to substitute a longer word without difficulty, or vice versa).[195]
^Prasse, Jane E.; Kikano, George E. (2008). "Stuttering: An Overview". American Family Physician. 77 (9): 1271–1276. PMID18540491. Retrieved from Academic Research Library database, (Document ID: 1468009541).
^"Therapy Outcomes". Stuttering Foundation. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
^ abJames Earl Jones (29 June 1996). "The Voice of Triumph" (Interview: Audio/Transcript). Interviewed by The American Academy of Achievement for the National Medal of Arts. Sun Valley, Idaho. Archived from the original on 6 September 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
^"Stuttering". National Institutes of Health – National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
^Raphael, Amy (30 March 2003). "Fears of a clown". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
^Howerd mentioned his youthful stutter in a revealing BBC broadcast of Desert Island Discs, Jan. 1982, rebroadcast in April 2012 in the three-hour Howerd's Ways: the Radio Times of Frankie Howerdhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gvwzh
^Howerd, Frankie (1976) On the Way I Lost It, W.H. Allen, ISBN0-491-01807-X
^
"Obituary: Dennison, William Donald". The Toronto Star. 4 May 1981. p. B11.
^Barman, Roderick J. (1999). Citizen Emperor: Pedro II and the Making of Brazil, 1825–1891. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN978-0-8047-3510-0.
^Katz, David (2000), People Funny Boy - The Genius of Lee "Scratch" Perry, Payback Press, ISBN0-86241-854-2
^Cullen, Frank (2007). "Maxine Feldman". Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America. New York [u.a.]: Routledge. pp. 372–375. ISBN978-0-415-93853-2.
^Ward, Marshall (2 April 2013). "The Heart of Ann Wilson". Rock Cellar Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
^Tracy Wilson & Holly Frey (November 2013). "Audre Lorde P.1". Stuff You Missed In History Class (Podcast). IHeartRadio.
^Dando-Collins, Stephen (2016). The Hero Maker: A Biography of Paul Brickhill (Paperback). Sydney: Penguin Random House Australia. ISBN978-0-85798-812-6.
^Dutton, Ralph (1963). English Court Life: From Henry VII to George II. London: B. T. Batsford. p. 232. ISBN978-1-4058-5903-5. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Lopes, Fernão (1895). Chronica de El-Rei D. Pedro I [Chronicle of King Peter I] (in Portuguese). Lisbon: Typ. do «Commercio de Portugal». p. 14. Este rei Dom Pedro era muito gago […]
^Čepėnas, Pranas, ed. (1972). Lietuvos Universitetas 1579–1803–1922 (in Lithuanian). Chicago: The Association of Lithuanian-American Professors. pp. 150, 396, 427, 439. OCLC2152067.
^"Who Was Count Cutelli?". cartoonresearch.com. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019. Cutelli claimed he did some work on the early version of Porky Pig, which would have had to have been augmenting some of the original work done by Joe Dougherty, who had an actual stuttering problem but couldn't control it. As a result, some recording sessions took hours and added to the costs, so Cutelli could have been brought in for some additional lines. Dougherty only voiced the character for two years from March 1935 to March 1937. He was replaced by Mel Blanc, who could provide a more consistent stutter. Cutelli, of course, claimed that he was the one who voiced the original "That's All Folks" tag at the end of Looney Tunes cartoons.