More to the point, why does Daphne, who has a Lancashire accent, have one brother with a London accent and another with an Australian accent?
I noticed that too, Tom. It’s even more ridiculous that they assume the viewer is actually accepting Daphne’s accent for Mancunian. Broken home, I suppose, with one brother ending up in Cockney Town and another Down Under?
Cary Grant! But of course. Shit, I didn’t even KNOW he was a Brit! But could you name some current celebs that sound like Yank-wanna-be-Brits? Apart from various boy bands that’ll switch from a strong London (well, usually Dublin) accent to Californian when on stage.
I really had to look twice before I figured out what the last sentence meant…
The in-joke about Daphne’s accent is that John Mahoney really is a Mancunian, having been born and brought up in Manchester (England). His accent is, in that sense, no more authentic than any of the others.
Does anyone from the US know Lloyd Grossman? I think he’s from Boston (or nearby) and he’s graced our UK TVs for years now (:() doing posh cookery shows and other bits and pieces. His accent isn’t what my admittedly naive UK ears would call US, nor is it (by a long shot) any variation of UK English I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard it described as ‘mid-atlantic’ but never heard anyone quite so, so … ridiculous. He does things with vowel sounds that shouldn’t be done to a dog.
I saw him on a talk-show a while ago and he comes across as quite a good chap, it’s just a pity that he wasn’t using sign language.
When I lived in Denver, South African accents from the voiceover talent in radio commercials seemed relatively common. Sounds like a cross between a BBC accent with an Australian lilt, with a bit of U.S. Midland Northern thrown in. Classy, but not pretentious.
Orson Welles as Harry Lime in ‘The Third Man’ has an accent that is eerily similar to that of Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane. It actually is more than just the accent though, the quality of his voice is very close as well.
Rent the film and play close attention during the scene on the ferris wheel and you’ll see what I mean. I’ve never heard him say as much in interviews, but I wonder how influenced Grammer may have been by this performance when he was originally working on Frasier’s character back in the ‘Cheers’ days.
I was waking through a museum in New York City a couple of years ago and I overheard a conversation that I found bizarre. Two women were taking about a course in “Neutral English”. This was a course in diction that would essentially erase any embarrassing provincial accents – no West Virgina Twang, no Southern Drawl, no Brooklynese. Shades of Henry Higgins!
It wasn’t clear what they replaced your existing accent with. TV Newscaster Bland, perhaps. Or it might be Anglophile pseudo-Brit. Or Long Island Lockjaw, for all I know.
Cary Grant is from Iowa. He would be an example of an American ‘wanting to be’ a Brit. Coldfire’s question still stands: can anyone think of a Brit that ‘wanted to be’ American?
I don’t know about “wanting to” sound American, but several acors do successfully “erase” their normal British accents to play Americans. Bob Hoskins did a wonderful job for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Tracey Ullman has for several roles. Leo McKern, however, doesn’t do a good job of it – he speaks slowly and with a sort of drawl, even when it isn’t appropriate.So his character from Saskachewan and his character from Baltimore both sound the same – and not like anyone from eithe Saskachewan or Baltimore.
All of 'em.
What, you don’t think “Overpaid, oversexed, and over here” smacks of a serious case of envy?
Conversely, CalMeacham was straying into error. Leo McKern is not British but Australian.
Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith in The Matrix) was born in Nigeria, and then lived in South Africa and England before settling in Australia. His American accent is very good. I especially liked his line when one of the other agents said, “He doesn’t know.”
“Know whut?”
No, that’s not it. They did an episode in which Rita <ugh - I forget her surname; Tom Hanks’ wife> played the mom, and she did so with her usual Ahmairicun accent.
According to Robert M. Pirsig’s theory in his book Lila, American speech got its distinct sound from the speech patterns of the American Indians. Plain spoken. Plains spoken.
When Roger Rabbit came out, linguist Geoffrey Nunberg commented on the radio on why Bob Hoskins’s attempt at an American accent didn’t quite ring true. Most British actors aiming to sound “American” seem to approximate the plebian Philadelphia accent. Somehow accent coaches in Britain must have seized on Philly as the essential “American” sound. Like Ben Kingsley in Sneakers. That’s what we sound like to them? Too often, their idea of “American” comes out as a nasty snarl. Like Patrick Stewart in Conspiracy Theory. (Not that the Philly accent is nasty, but the snarl happens from the distortion of Brits trying to force their voices to behave in ways they’re not used to.)
Gary Oldman is the only British actor who can do truly convincing American accents. He can do a wide range of accents from all over, and he gets them all very accurate. The guy’s a genius.
Thanks, APB. It’s a common mistake Grant had such an “American” persona, that most prople forget that he’s originally a Brit.
My favorite comment on Grant’s manner of speech is from Some Like It Hot, where Tony Curtis does a brilliant impersination of his accent and mannerisms. To quote Jack Lemmon - “Nobody speaks like that!”
P.S. - As for a modern example, Coldfire, how about Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter?
I don’t know, I thought Bob Hoskins was one actor with a pretty good American accent. For years I watched British television and they would have these characters with this bizarre accent which I eventually realized was supposed to be American! Most of them don’t even come close.
Check out Johnny Lee Miller’s American accent in Hackers, which he seems to have come up with by watching Wargames and imitating Matthew Broderick as closely as possible.
-fh
Hoskins has played Americans in a few movies, and sounds pretty good to this Louisiana boy (no Southern drawl here, though).
Gary Oldman is definitely the man, however. I second Jomo Mojo on that one. Other British-Isles’ actors who’ve passed off good American accents include Minnie Driver (Grosse Pointe Blank), Liam Neeson (Next of Kin), and Miranda Richardson (Get Carter).
Also, Mel Gibson and Rick Springfield have managed to shed (publicly) their Australian accents.
Kevin Costner, on the other hand, struggled in Robin Hood with his British accent.
Disagree about Gary Oldman. When I saw True Romance, I knew he was in it, but I didn’t recognize him until he started speaking - and then I knew it was him because it was obviously an Englishman putting on an American accent!