Stuttering Foundation President Joins Actor Colin Firth to Raise Money for Children Who Stutter

For Immediate Release 
Contact: Greg Wilson 
greg@curleycompany.com
(571) 239-7474

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (February 25, 2015) — Four years after winning an Oscar for his role as the monarch who stuttered in The King’s Speech, Colin Firth (pictured with Stuttering Foundation President Jane Fraser) launched a major fundraising campaign on behalf of Action for Stammering Children aimed at increasing support and training for speech and language therapy at an event in London.

Funding recipients of the campaign – titled ‘Unlock a Child’s Voice’ – include the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children. Firth and Fraser are both Vice Presidents of the Michael Palin Centre.

“The King’s Speech was a turning point in history for the stuttering community, bringing worldwide attention, mainstream understanding and hope for those that struggle to speak,” said Fraser. “Colin’s commitment to helping children is key to helping families unlock the mystery of stuttering,” added Fraser.

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DOWNLOAD picture of actor Colin Firth and Stuttering Foundation President Jane Fraser at London Fundraiser for Stuttering Children

PHOTO CREDIT: Daniel Leal-Olivas/Press Association

Foundation Spokesperson Jane Fraser  
Jane Fraser is president of The Stuttering Foundation and co-author of If Your Child Stutters: A Guide for Parents, 8th edition. She is also vice president of the Action for Stammering Children, Michael Palin Centre, London.

About the Stuttering Foundation  
Malcolm Fraser, a successful businessman and stutterer, established and endowed the nonprofit Stuttering Foundation in 1947. The Stuttering Foundation provides a toll-free helpline, 800-992-9392, and free online resources on its Website, www.StutteringHelp.org, including services, referrals and support to people who stutter and their families, as well as support for research into the causes of stuttering.

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

King George

In November 2010, worldwide movie audiences were presented with a most interesting and unusual movie release with The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Helena Bonham Carter as his wife Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, history may have forgotten the courageous and inspiring story of Prince Albert who stuttered badly and never dreamed that he would ever be king when his older brother, King Edward VIII, abruptly abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.

Kenyon Martin

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The poster is intended to give children and adults who stutter inspiration as they grapple with their speech disorder.

Carly Simon

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Bill Withers

While Bill Withers has long been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter, many people probably didn’t realize he stuttered. He passed away on March 30, 2020.

Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, W.V., Withers was the youngest of six children. When his father died when Withers was small, he was raised by his mother and grandmother, both of whom worked as domestics.

Lewis Carroll

The recent Disney version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland, garnered a great deal of media hype. Even though the mainstream media has not made mention that Carroll was a person who stuttered, his family history gives credence to the discovery of the genetic link to stuttering. Carroll was born to parents who were first cousins; almost all of their eleven children, three girls and seven boys, struggled with stuttering past childhood.