Screenwriter David Seidler, who won Oscar for ‘The King’s Speech,’ dead at 86

David Seidler, who won an Academy Award for original screenplay in 2010′s “The King’s Speech,” died Saturday. He was 86.

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Seidler died during a fly-fishing trip in New Zealand, his manager, Jeff Aghassi, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

“David was in the place he loved most in the world -- New Zealand -- doing what gave him the greatest peace, which was fly-fishing,” Aghassi said in a statement. “If given the chance, it is exactly as he would have scripted it.”

“The King’s Speech” also won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. The film’s premise was about Britain’s King George VI overcoming his severe stutter, and his friendship with speech therapist Lionel Logue as World War II loomed, Variety reported.

Seidler’s script was inspired by his own personal experience of overcoming a stutter as a child, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Seidler was a screenwriter for several television movies, Variety reported. They included “Onassis: The Richest Man in the World” (1988), “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” (1988), “Whose Child Is This? The War for Baby Jessica” (1993), “Dancing in the Dark” (1995), “Come on, Get Happy: The Partridge Family Story” (1999) and “By Dawn’s Early Light” (2001).

Seidler also penned episodes for series such as “Adventures of the Seaspray,” “Days of Our Lives,” “Another World,” “General Hospital,” “The Wonderful World of Disney” and “Son of the Dragon.”

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