# Actors from outside the Southeastern U.S., or even the country doing Southern accents--do they usually do it well? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563 "2020-07-07T02:28:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/41 "2020-07-09T04:04:26Z")
Every soccer game ends one-nil on a disputed penalty kick. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/42 "2020-07-09T06:26:20Z")
I also woudl think U.S. citizens were exposed to British accents very early on, even before the seventies. Many movies and TV-shows, also in the eighties and nineties, have bits where someone tries to do a British accent. Wouldn’t many persons in the sixties have seen James Bond, and possibly The Saint or The Avengers? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/43 "2020-07-09T06:37:10Z")
Yes, and Terry-Thomas, and Peter Lawford, Cary Grant, and many more. But it may be exaggerated imitations that get noticed the most. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/44 "2020-07-09T06:48:50Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Are there examples of someone, British or otherwise, overdoing a “standard” American accent? I’m having a hard time imagining what that might sound like. Can’t cite one off the top of my head, but I have heard it before, and it basically sounds like someone over-pronouncing every word with excess crispness, hard “ings”, extra hard Rs. Just being extremely conscious of every single syllable. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/45 "2020-07-09T09:16:10Z")
> [@Tusculan](#): > > I also woudl think U.S. citizens were exposed to British accents very early on, even before the seventies. Many movies and TV-shows, also in the eighties and nineties, have bits where someone tries to do a British accent. Wouldn’t many persons in the sixties have seen James Bond, and possibly The Saint or The Avengers? American moviegoers had been exposed to British accents since the dawn of talkies. Some of Hollywood’s biggest hits featured British accents: _Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Robin Hood, Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus,_ the James Bond films, the _Star Wars_ films… the list goes on. Not to mention the fact that people watched a lot more movies then than they do now. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/46 "2020-07-09T10:22:04Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > > British actors usually do a reasonable southern US accent > > I disagree. I can’t count the number of British shows I’ve turned off because the actors tried and failed to do a Southern American accent. Way over-Southerning doesn’t even begin to cover it. Not sure it’s fair to generalize. The first time I saw Sienna Miller in a movie, _American Sniper_, where she played the protagonist’s wife, I just assumed without further thought or doubt that she was American. I was astounded when I first saw her on _The Daily Show_ back in the Jon Stewart days; her natural accent is very distinctly British. Even Stewart commented on the astounding difference between her natural accent and some of her movie roles (she just said, “it’s called _acting_”). She was actually born in NYC, but was raised most of her life in London. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/47 "2020-07-09T11:21:15Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I’m curious as to what the posters who describe someone as overdoing it mean by this. In particular, how does it apply to the “standard” American accent? Let’s take the example of Hugh Laurie playing the role of House. If he were to have done a bad job by “overdoing it”, what might that have sounded like? Are there examples of someone, British or otherwise, overdoing a “standard” American accent? I’m having a hard time imagining what that might sound like. Nicola Bryant on _Doctor Who_ : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbNObePPs6g&list=PLBCE10934A1600BEA&index=11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbNObePPs6g&list=PLBCE10934A1600BEA&index=11) ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/48 "2020-07-09T15:02:12Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Nicola Bryant on _Doctor Who_ : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbNObePPs6g&list=PLBCE10934A1600BEA&index=11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbNObePPs6g&list=PLBCE10934A1600BEA&index=11) Huh? Is this the wrong video? The only American accent I’m hearing here is a strong long island accent, hardly “standard American”, and honestly it’s not that bad. Annoying, but not terribly inaccurate. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/49 "2020-07-09T17:33:48Z")
Hmm. Your M obviously Vs. I hear this as Nicola Bryant - who’s British - attempting a General American accent. The character she’s playing, Peri Brown, is from California. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/50 "2020-07-09T17:39:26Z")
Again, are you SURE this video is correct? Cause the video I’m seeing is a clip of “Daleks in Manhattan”, which according to IMDB, doesn’t even have Nicola Bryant in it. IIRC, she was featured much earlier than this. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/51 "2020-07-09T17:50:30Z")
Aw, damn, I must have. I pulled up the “Daleks in Manhattan” clip to illustrate, but then realized those weren’t General American accents. Was trying to post this: [- YouTube](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DiLtQms1nW8) ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/52 "2020-07-09T18:13:57Z")
Thanks. Yeah, that’s pretty bad. Honestly it comes off like bad acting all around. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/53 "2020-07-09T19:46:21Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > Huh? Is this the wrong video? The only American accent I’m hearing here is a strong long island accent, hardly “standard American”, and honestly it’s not that bad. Annoying, but not terribly inaccurate. She’s going for that 1930s NYC gangster moll type accent. She actually sounds just like Cyndi Lauper. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Aw, damn, I must have. I pulled up the “Daleks in Manhattan” clip to illustrate, but then realized those weren’t General American accents. Was trying to post this: [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DiLtQms1nW8](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DiLtQms1nW8) Honestly I can barely even hear her in this clip, the sound is so poor. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/54 "2020-07-09T20:56:15Z")
You folks know Scarlett O’Hara and Ashley Wilkes were both British? In a bit of a tangent, I recall all those sword and sandal epics where the Roman leaders and officers spoke with high class British accents. It seems to me that in all fairness, the enlisted soldiers and common folk should have spoken with Cockney or Scouse accents. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/55 "2020-07-09T23:08:20Z")
Truly amazing to me; I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![K2500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@K2500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K2500)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/56 "2020-07-10T16:51:05Z")
Does “fixin ta” fall in the same dialect as “y’all”? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/57 "2020-07-10T17:47:16Z")
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Daniel Craig in _Knives Out_. I really enjoyed his performance, though I have no idea how authentic his accent was. It was certainly over-the-top, but then, some genuine southern accents _do_ sound over-the-top to us northerners. On the other hand, I have four nieces who were born and raised in North Carolina, and (to me anyway) have no trace of an accent. That’s probably because their parents are native Chicagoans. I’ve spent considerable time in the Raleigh area and have encountered folks with thick accents, mild accents, and no accents at all. So you can’t assume all residents of a certain region all sound the same anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/58 "2020-07-10T18:06:49Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Daniel Craig in _Knives Out_ . The funny part about that film is that for the first like half hour I had no idea what accent he was doing. I guess it seems like he’s trying to do an upper class Kentucky accent? It’s not as over the top as his turn in Logan Lucky at least :D. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/59 "2020-07-10T20:56:44Z")
I regularly say both “y’all” and “fixin’ to”. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/60 "2020-07-10T21:50:33Z")
I don’t know if it’s Southern but I’ve used “reckon”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563.md?page=4)