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”.
IIRC, she is American, but raised in the U.K.
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.
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.
Monty Python players - all of them - had insanely bad American accents when they attempted them.
Even Terry Gilliam?
How many times did Terry Gilliam speak during all the Monty Python sketches?
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.
In what way would perfect accents be funny?
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.
Years after, he said it was one of his favorite roles, “but it really should have gone to someone else.”
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 is hilariously appalling. Like he’s trying to do a cross between Sean Connery and Noo Yawk.
Pants-wettingly terrible.
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.
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.
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.
This is true (except, as noted, for American Terry Gilliam). It’s actually quite shocking. Example.
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.
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.