SFA mourns loss of author John Updike

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Stuttering Foundation mourns the death of renowned author John Updike.

Plagued from an early age by a stammer, he found creative outlets in drawing and writing.

He released more than 50 books in a career that started in the 1950s, winning virtually every literary prize, including two Pulitzers, for Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit at Rest.

Author Joyce Carol Oates, a friend of Updike's, told the Associated Press there was a "luminosity in John's style that was just extraordinary. He also had a wonderful, warm, sympathetic sense of humor which people didn't always notice."

"He was readily willing to help us out before it was politically correct to do so," said Jane Fraser, president of the nonprofit Foundation. "He was somewhat bemused that his picture would appear with other famous people who stutter; but nonetheless, he wanted to help young people who struggled with the same disability he had."

He will be sorely missed.

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Bruce Willis

While the world knows Bruce Willis as an A-list actor, few know that he struggled with stuttering throughout his first 20 years.

Walter Bruce Willis was born in 1955 in West Germany to his German mother, Marlene, and his American GI father, David Willis. The family settled in David’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957, and the couple has three other children.

Mel Tillis

Mel Tillis, born Lonnie Melvin Tillis, was an influential figure in country music, both as a songwriter and a performer. His journey to fame was marked by overcoming personal challenges, including a stutter that he turned into a defining part of his public persona.

John Melendez

He is a talented musician, actor, and comedian. Listen to a podcast.

John Stossel

John Stossel is one of the most recognized and articulate reporters today. However, he once considered giving up his broadcasting career because of his stuttering.

“Fear of stuttering can easily become worse than the stuttering itself,” observed Stossel. “The idea that I’m on television and making speeches is still a shock to me sometimes.”

Bob Love

Bob Love has dreamt about being a great public speaker since his early days in Bastrop Louisiana, even though, as a young man, he could barely put two words together, let alone speak a full sentence.

In spite of his severe stuttering disability, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls NBA superstar, whose records were eventually surpassed by Michael Jordan. Throughout his entire athletic career, Bob Love kept his stuttering a secret from the fans who adored him, thinking he could do his “talking” on the basketball court.