# 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:** 5
**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:** [November 7, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/81 "2016-11-07T21:24:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In one movie with Roseanna Arquette, she told the cops he was her “cousin from Quebec.” They sometimes switch nationalities for Arnold, as well. In “Predator”, his nickname was “Dutch”. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/82 "2016-11-07T21:30:08Z")
“OverSoutherning” would always get a comment ln MST3K. There is an abundance of actors who were born and raised in the south, but somehow Minnesotan Jessica Lange got cast as Blanche in “Streetcar”. Southern accents in American films are always laughably terrible. I don’t even think southern-born actors can pull it off anymore, it probably got beaten out of them by voice coaches early in their career. I’ve never heard an actor who can do a natural southern accent like Lindsay Graham or Pat Summerall, whose natural southern accents were things of beauty. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/83 "2016-11-07T21:39:27Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > They sometimes switch nationalities for Arnold, as well. In “Predator”, his nickname was “Dutch”. The best Arnold line ever was at the start of _ **Commando** _, when they had to explain how he came to be in an elite US Army unit. They just made him an anti-Communist refugee: “Venn I vas a little boy in East Cher-ma-nee…” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/84 "2016-11-07T23:18:14Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The casting director should have been fired. It was an otherwise entertaining movie, but every time Reeves was onscreen, it jarred me out of the story. To be fair, that’s true of any of his movies besides Bill and Ted. > [@Scoobysnax](#): > > No mentions of Rosanna Arquette’s horrible french Canadian accent in The Whole Nine Yards? She was not a key character, they could easily have found a local actress. And that’s why it’s not “All I want to do when I wake in the morning is hear your voice”. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/85 "2016-11-07T23:31:53Z")
John Travolta in _Killing Season_ does a horrendously painful Serbian accent, and i don’t even know what a good Serbian accent sounds like. What? You’ve never seen or heard of _Killing Season_? Be glad. From [RogertEbert.com](http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/killing-season-2013) (though sadly not written by ebert, RIP): > [@](#): > > The biggest mystery about “Killing Season” is that, despite its lack of real dramatic conflict or any particular insights on the horrors of the Serbian-Bosnian conflict (the latter is perhaps not that much of a surprise seeing as how Evan Daughtrey’s screenplay apparently was originally written about WW II participants), it still managed to attract actors of the caliber of De Niro and Travolta to take on roles that might otherwise have been filled by the likes of Nicolas Cage and…okay, Nicolas Cage again in an exceptionally odd double role. As he has done so many times in recent years, De Niro coasts through his part with just enough dramatic exertions to ensure that he receives his paycheck—not even an arrow shot through his leg is enough to inspire much of a reaction out of him. He makes so little of an impression that one could almost forget that he was in the film and my guess is that he would have no problem with that. > > If De Niro hardly makes any effort at all, Travolta fully and completely commits to his performance, a move that would be laudable if it were not for the fact that the end results are so laughably bad. He is trying to come across as both charming and monstrous but is unable to pull off such a tricky tightrope act. Matters are not helped by the hilariously unconvincing Serbian accent that he deploys so insistently and ineptly throughout. To make things worse, Travolta has also been outfitted with the kind of goofy facial hair that makes one long for the comparatively slick grooming that he displayed in “Battlefield Earth.” How bad is it? At one point—don’t ask how—he gets an arrow shot through his face and most viewers would consider it a marked improvement. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/86 "2016-11-14T04:52:00Z")
Larry Fine, of The Three Stooges. Whenever Moe and Curly, or Moe and Shemp, or Moe and Curly Joe, would affect an accent, Larry would just speak in his same American accent. He never attempted an accent, even when, as he sometimes did, he used Yiddish phrases (all the Stooges, except for “Curly Joe” DeRita, were Jewish). ---
**Author:** ![ralfy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ralfy/32/600_2.png) [@ralfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralfy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/87 "2016-11-19T11:56:06Z")
“Movie Accent Expert Breaks Down 32 Actors’ Accents | WIRED” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NvDvESEXcgE/maxresdefault.jpg "Movie Accent Expert Breaks Down 32 Actors' Accents | WIRED") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvDvESEXcgE) ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/88 "2016-11-19T12:24:03Z")
Don Cheadle in Ocean’s 11. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/89 "2016-11-19T12:36:18Z")
I just started watching an Irish show starring Scottish actor Iain Glen—Ser Jorah Mormont. I’m no expert on Irish accents but it sounded pretty terrible to me. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/90 "2016-11-19T13:15:30Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I just started watching an Irish show starring Scottish actor Iain Glen—Ser Jorah Mormont. I’m no expert on Irish accents but it sounded pretty terrible to me. Ah … It’s called _Jack Taylor_ — [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID0QoJRBS2o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID0QoJRBS2o) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/91 "2016-11-19T13:33:16Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > It sounds like she’s trying. > > When most people speak, it doesn’t sound like they have to think about the sounds. The words just come spilling out (when Zellwegger speaks in her own accent, it sounds like that). When she speaks in a British accent, it sounds like she’s thinking about every single syllable that comes out of her mouth. It’s really forced & laboured and the rhythm is just odd, especially compared to the other (actually British) people in the movie who have a much more natural cadence. This is exactly the reason I can’t stand to listen to Hugh Laurie’s American accent. > [@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. > > Also, whatshername–the sister from Arrested Development who was Ted’s hotter-than-hell boss in the long gone but much lamented “Better off Ted” has a weird American accent. I don’t know where she’s from, but she keeps mispronouncing words, just slightly. (C’n’t instead of “Can’t”, for example. It’s very…clipped.) > [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Portia de Rossi (AKA, Mrs. DeGeneres) is from Australia. I think that her American accent is pretty good. She has said in interviews that she can no longer do her original Australian accent. It’s gone, like John Mahoney’s original English accent. ---
**Author:** ![Santelia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Santelia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santelia)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/92 "2016-11-19T13:51:00Z")
[quote=“ralfy, post:87, topic:768166”] “Movie Accent Expert Breaks Down 32 Actors’ Accents | WIRED” [/QUOTE] Thanks. I was expecting an awful watchmojo type thing but this was actually fascinating:) ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/93 "2016-11-25T17:35:32Z")
Zellweger doing a British accent was pretty good. First of all because she’s an American actress playing a Sloaney pretentious gall in a pretentious industry, secondly because British accents are far more varied than are portrayed in movies, so it’s easy to suspend any disbelief. Even Hugh Grant put on a fake accent in that film, as he was playing a caricature of a type you imagine works in the media in central London. I thought the same about Don Cheadle’s accent, and not knowing of him thought he was a Londoner givin’ it the all that an’ then some in a Hollywood massive film. I’m a Londoner and have heard that type of speech many times, when someone’s trying to make an impression. Jane Leeves’s accent as Daphne Moon really grated on me, her brother who appeared for an episode or two was almost Dick Van Dyke-ish in how bad his accent sounded, but she was in every episode and her faux Mancunian accent was a real bugbear. She’s from Essex, as is David Beckham, and so her natural accent is more Home Counties with a bit of Eastender - far removed from Mancunian. As for Christopher Lambert; he couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag, let alone do that whilst changing his accent. He’s also a complete twat, but at least he’s self-aware enough to know he can’t act and so doesn’t try to anymore. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/94 "2016-11-25T18:50:58Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > […] > Jane Leeves’s accent as Daphne Moon really grated on me, her brother who appeared for an episode or two was almost Dick Van Dyke-ish in how bad his accent sounded, but she was in every episode and her faux Mancunian accent was a real bugbear. She’s from Essex, as is David Beckham, and so her natural accent is more Home Counties with a bit of Eastender - far removed from Mancunian. > […] [Shrug] Beats me. As a dyed-in-the-wool American, I wouldn’t know a Londoner from a Mancunian. Simon Moon just sounded like an English tough guy. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/95 "2016-11-25T19:51:38Z")
The recent Harry Potter-adjacent film \*Fantastic Beasts \*had some truly awful Noo Yawk accents, mostly delivered by British actors. And I mean, some of them were “Daleks in Manhattan”-level bad. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/96 "2016-11-26T02:37:03Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > Jane Leeves’s accent as Daphne Moon really grated on me, her brother who appeared for an episode or two was almost Dick Van Dyke-ish in how bad his accent sounded, but she was in every episode and her faux Mancunian accent was a real bugbear. She’s from Essex, as is David Beckham, and so her natural accent is more Home Counties with a bit of Eastender - far removed from Mancunian. I believe the same is true for their mother, played by Millicent Martin. Having lived in England myself, I know something about its regional accents; ones from the north are very different from those in the south. Wasn’t the guy who played Simon Moon actually from Australia? And the rest of Daphne’s brothers from everywhere but Manchester? ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/97 "2016-11-26T06:52:13Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I believe the same is true for their mother, played by Millicent Martin. Having lived in England myself, I know something about its regional accents; ones from the north are very different from those in the south. > > Wasn’t the guy who played Simon Moon actually from Australia? And the rest of Daphne’s brothers from everywhere but Manchester? Yep, an Australian putting on a dodgy London accent. Beats me how he could be her brother seeing as they were born in different parts of the country. Maybe that was some kind of in-joke, as Aussies’ and Brits’ accents are often mistaken for each other. It’s hard to think the producers of Frasier actually made the mistake themselves. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/98 "2016-11-26T07:42:39Z")
In The Marx Brothers movie _Go West_ the three women in the saloon join in Groucho’s toast and give their places of birth as Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana. Chico says, “Hey, I thought-a these-a girls were sisters.” Groucho answers, “They are, but their mother lived in a trailer.” Who knows where Harold and Gertrude Moon lived all those years they were bringing kids into the world. All over England, perhaps! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/99 "2016-11-26T08:20:06Z")
Millicent Martin in _ **Stop the World, I Want to Get Off!** _: Millicent Martin as Gertrude Moon on \*\*\*Frasier\*\*\*: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MksyUqiuoqw/hqdefault.jpg "Frasier - Niles take Moon's to dinner") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MksyUqiuoqw) ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166/100 "2016-11-26T10:17:39Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Monty Python players - all of them - had insanely bad American accents when they attempted them. Which actually made it funnier. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-very-poor-at-accents/768166.md?page=6)