# Actors who are very poor at accents **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166 "2016-10-10T18:34:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/41 "2016-10-12T01:06:18Z")
I watched the old Billy Wilder film “Five Graves to Cairo” today. Franchot Tone, who was from Niagara Falls, NY didn’t even attempt an English accent. Apparently Erich von Stroheim as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel sometimes slipped in his accent. Worst accent ever? Gene Hackman deserves to be mentioned for his Polish accent playing Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski in “A Bridge Too Far”. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/42 "2016-10-12T03:33:30Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > And as mentioned upthread, Hayley Atwell’s American accent in her new show is awful. However, I could sit and listen to her British accent all day. IIRC, she is American, but raised in the U.K. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/43 "2016-10-12T04:04:12Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I guess I’m the first to mention Sullivan Stapleton’s lousy American accent in this thread, but that’s probably because I’m the only one still watching “Blindspot”. 😛 > > And as mentioned upthread, Hayley Atwell’s American accent in her new show is awful. However, I could sit and listen to her British accent all day. I recently mentioned him in another thread. He seems to think an American accent consists of running out of breath at the end of each word. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/44 "2016-10-12T05:19:57Z")
Minnie Driver’s character in _Good Will Hunting_ was very clearly stated to be a British woman who was a student at Harvard, so of course she just used her natural accent. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/45 "2016-10-12T06:33:03Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Minnie Driver’s character in _Good Will Hunting_ was very clearly stated to be a British woman who was a student at Harvard, so of course she just used her natural accent. Sorry, it has been so long since I saw that movie that I’ve dragged innocent Minnie Driver into my wrathful recollection. It was just Matt Damon, NOT her. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/46 "2016-10-12T06:42:27Z")
Monty Python players - all of them - had insanely bad American accents when they attempted them. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/47 "2016-10-12T06:47:43Z")
Even Terry Gilliam? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/48 "2016-10-12T08:59:20Z")
How many times did Terry Gilliam speak during all the Monty Python sketches? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/49 "2016-10-12T15:07:57Z")
Elisabeth Moss attempting an Kiwi/Australian accent in the TV series “Top of the Lake”. She pretty much just gives up on it at some point. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/50 "2016-10-12T15:31:20Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Monty Python players - all of them - had insanely bad American accents when they attempted them. In what way would perfect accents be funny? ---
**Author:** ![ashtayk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@ashtayk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashtayk)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/51 "2016-10-12T16:24:17Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Aiden Gillen on Game of Thrones; ca’;t seem to decide from one sentence to the othe whether he is going for Irish or RP. I am not sure he is even trying for a consistent accent here. But, on “The Wire” as Mayor Carcetti, I recall his accent was thought to be very very good. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/52 "2016-10-12T18:00:28Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Dick Van Dyke, much as I love his stuff, probably had the worst accent ever filmed. > > “Ho, h’its aie jowlly 'olleeday wiv yew, Mawy Poppins!” > > The horribleness of the accent adds something to the charm of the film, but it’s still just ghastly bad. Years after, he said it was one of his favorite roles, “but it really should have gone to someone else.” ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/53 "2016-10-19T05:17:17Z")
Bit role, but in Enter the Dragon, an actor called Peter Archer plays a character called Parsons. He is the guy in the Fighting without Fighting scene. He is _supposed_ to be a New Zealander. He _is_ in fact Australian. Most Australians can come close to Kiwi. Even if he used his native Oz accent he would have done better than he did. His [accent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOKJEgZr8WQ) is hilariously appalling. Like he’s trying to do a cross between Sean Connery and Noo Yawk. Pants-wettingly terrible. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/54 "2016-10-19T12:44:52Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > IIRC, she is American, but raised in the U.K. Dual citizenship (American father), but born and raised entirely in the UK by her mother so her British accent is her natural one. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/55 "2016-10-19T17:35:31Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Dual citizenship (American father), but born and raised entirely in the UK by her mother so her British accent is her natural one. I dont think so. Yes, she grew up in the UK, but her British accent doesnt sound natural. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/56 "2016-10-19T19:14:07Z")
Laura Fraser, a Scottish actress, used an American accent in _Breaking Bad_. Fairly early on, something seemed off to me. She was pronouncing everything correctly, but I think there was inordinate intensity in a lot of her phrasing and cadence. Maybe a little Shatner-ish. Whatever it was, it drove me to investigate, and lo and behold, there she is speaking Glaswegian on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/57 "2016-10-19T19:44:12Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Christopher Lambert’s… extremely peculiar accent has to fit in here somewhere. Not sure where. Came in here to mention that. I haven’t seen him in anything but Highlander, but his Scottish accent there was an…interesting blend of Scottish and French. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/58 "2016-10-19T20:04:52Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Monty Python players - all of them - had insanely bad American accents when they attempted them. This is true (except, as noted, for American Terry Gilliam). It’s actually quite shocking. [Example.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v0I4OQi7CQ) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/59 "2016-10-19T20:25:48Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > No, this is not a case where they don’t even bother; like Sean Connery… Actually, movies like _Hunt for Red October_ and _Robin Hood Prince of Thieves_ use this to deliberate effect. In the former movie it’s a clue that Ramius is not Russian and thus defecting; in the latter it’s a reminder that King Richard is Norman and not Anglo-Saxon. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/60 "2016-10-20T08:35:07Z")
I saw John Mahoney (from _Frasier_) performing in a Harold Pinter play a few years ago, in Chicago. He was just _barely_ doing a British accent—just enough so you’d think, “hmm, sounds like he’s trying to do an accent.” What made it especially glaring is that everyone else in the cast sounded spot-on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166.md?page=4)