# Are there any American actors who have accurately imitated a British accent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2019, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354 "2019-06-11T03:43:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/81 "2019-06-14T19:03:02Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Christopher Guest is a hereditary member of the House of Lords. That’s pretty definitively English. How the hell did I not know he’s married to Jamie Lee Curtis, and because of that Jamie Lee is an actual Baroness? Heh, that’s pretty cool. (He’s not a member of the House of Lords though, but he was up until 1999) ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/82 "2019-06-14T19:16:41Z")
How about Cary Elwes? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/rrFmuiF2ENY/maxresdefault.jpg "Robin hood Men in Tights - I speak with an English Accent") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrFmuiF2ENY) ---
**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:** [June 14, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/83 "2019-06-14T19:47:55Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > In one of the _Sharpe’s Rifles_ sequels, Sharpe meets a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars who had been a loyalist from Virginia. The guy was kind of young, maybe 30 (and the story took place maybe 25 years after the Revolutionary War had ended) and he talked like Elvis. That was Gavan O’Herlihy. Although he was born in Ireland he speaks with an American accent in interviews I’ve seen. He was also the disappearing Chuck Cunningham in Happy Days. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/84 "2019-06-14T20:39:34Z")
My family lived in Yorkshire from '83-'85 and my accent – “regular” Yorkshire; I never got the hang of Broad Yorkshire – was impeccable when we left, but I stopped being able to do it at least 20 years ago. ☹ I’d love to spend some time around Dales folk and see if it would come back, but I can’t imagine any scenario where it wouldn’t seem like I was mocking them. \ > [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > There was a crime drama called _Dempsey and Makepeace_ in the 80s. I loved that show! \ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/85 "2019-06-15T04:56:40Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Area is not the thing here, it’s history, tradition and population size. Texas has half the population than the UK, and has only been sizeably populated for about a century. By a vast and diverse set of immigrants who’s common connection was Texas. > > The UK is twice the population size and has 400 more years of modern age population, and limited transport meant that the fiercest rivalries and wars were often with the town down the road, with different speaking sorts… Accent distinction being a source of pride. “In America, a hundred years is a long time. In Europe, a hundred miles is a long way.” - Mark Twain > [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > ‘Guy’ has been used in Scotland since the 1930s. I think it’s been used in England for at least 50 years. Even earlier, actually: [Guy Fawkes - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes) ---
**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:** [June 15, 2019, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/86 "2019-06-15T06:57:51Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > There was a crime drama called _Dempsey and Makepeace_ in the 80s. He’s a tough NYPD cop on special assignment in London, she’s local and HOT, they’re partners. Glynis Barber, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! :o ---
**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:** [June 15, 2019, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/87 "2019-06-15T07:02:29Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Even earlier, actually: [Guy Fawkes - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes) Aha! But is that “Guy,” as you and I would probably pronounce it, or “Guy,” like the ski instructor on _ **Frasier** _? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/88 "2019-06-15T21:45:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Aha! But is that “Guy,” as you and I would probably pronounce it, or “Guy,” like the ski instructor on _ **Frasier** _? :dubious: 😕 “Guy”, as in “Guido”, actually. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/89 "2019-06-15T22:08:47Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > “Guy”, as in “Guido”, actually. His name was Guy. Guido is the Italian version he used while in Spain. Wikipedia also says: “Guy was an uncommon name in England, but may have been popular in York on account of a local notable, Sir Guy Fairfax of Steeton.” ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2019, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/90 "2019-06-15T22:37:46Z")
Amy Poehler was pretty good in [this _SNL_ sketch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whl7QMTlHm8). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/91 "2019-06-16T14:49:30Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > His name was Guy. Guido is the Italian version he used while in Spain. It’s also how he signed his own name. In England. On his own confessions. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/92 "2019-06-16T15:19:31Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > It’s also how he signed his own name. In England. On his own confessions. Right, but the name Guy wasn’t based on Guido. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/93 "2019-06-16T15:36:51Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Right, but the name Guy wasn’t based on Guido. But the name he used up until death might give a clue as to how he, himself, would have pronounced it. I’m willing to bet it wasn’t /ɡaɪ/ ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/94 "2019-06-17T00:39:06Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > This has always intrigued me, actually. We’re talking about a place with maybe a third to half the square mileage of Texas. Yet there’s about a million differently identifiable accents. On their best day Americans might be able to spot five or six ‘so-called’ American accents. It’s like we could spot the difference - and have it have meaning - between Charleston, Columbia and Greenville accents here in South Carolina. It’s bewildering to me. Take a look at the Wikipedia entry on [sociolinguistics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociolinguistics): > [@](#): > > [Sociolinguistics] also studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social variables (e.g., ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc.) and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes. As the usage of a language varies from place to place, language usage also varies among social classes, and it is these sociolects that sociolinguistics studies. And some of the questions/example problems at the bottom of this [ThoughtCo. article](https://www.thoughtco.com/sociolinguistics-3026278) for some insight into why there are so many dialects in such a relatively small area. It’s probably a good idea to follow links that talk about the difference between accent and dialect. The TLDR version is, dialects develop when there are divisions between groups of people. These could be physical (mountains and rivers, oceans, plain old distance), ideological (borders between countries, in-group/out-group), or social (class, prestige, peer group). It takes time for an identifiable dialect to form. In the UK, there have been groups of people with really different linguistic influences living in more or less the same place for a very long time compared to the US (literally thousands of years in some areas of Great Britian, less than 200 in many cases for the predominantly European groups that took over in the Western and Central US states). * * * About variations in the way individuals speak: The divisions between dialects are always somewhat fluid, and often people will “code-switch” or change the way they speak according to the situation and the listener. Dialects become less fluid when speakers identify more strongly with a group, and more fluid when there are benefits/penalties for fitting in or standing out from a group. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/95 "2019-06-17T02:04:10Z")
I know the thread is about _accurate_ use of British accents by American actors, but had to mention my favorite bad example - that of Robert Duvall, who played Dr. Watson in _The Seven-Per-Cent Solution_. His British accent was somewhere between pathetic and laughable. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/96 "2019-06-17T02:12:20Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > It’s ENGLISH accents, btw. British would include Northern Irish (such as James Nesbitt), welsh (I can’t name anyone using strong Welsh accent) and Scottish (countless but Ewan Macgregor (occasionally), Robert Carlyle (mostly) and, oh, yes Sean Connery). Mostly right, except while Northern Ireland is in the UK, it isn’t in Britain. Your main point is entirely correct though, and I think when most Americans think “English accent” they mean RP, or maybe Cockney. Even within the realm of “English accent” there’s no shortage - West Country, Jordie, Yorkshire, Brummie, etc., all very different. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/97 "2019-06-17T03:11:46Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > The Canadians often sound somewhat British and are hard to tell apart, it could be just a somewhat generic accent from southern England with no regional variations. Uuuuuuuuh…wut? Anyway, the Canadian Dave Thomas doing Uncle Trevor in “Arrested Development” could’ve used some…polish. And I don’t mean that language, either. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/98 "2019-06-17T03:29:10Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > By and large, American audiences don’t notice or care if an Aussie or Brit mangles an American accent. In Britain, it’s an entirely different story. If a middle class actor doesn’t nail a posh accent or a Geordie isn’t convincing as Liverpudlian or, heaven forfend, an English actor can’t imitate a Scot, there will be gnashing of teeth and an agonized, nationwide debate. And if a foreigner fails at it…armageddon. The actor who played Cora in Downton Abbey had a terrible American accent. I didn’t realize that she was supposed to be American for several episodes. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/99 "2019-06-17T04:47:08Z")
hajario, you’re talking about Elizabeth McGovern. She is American. When she was 30 or 31, she married a British man, and apparently she’s lived in the U.K. since then. Her character Cora Crawley is supposed to have married a British aristocrat when she was 22 and lived in the U.K. ever since then. So she was exactly the right casting - an American who’s lived most of her adult life in the U.K. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/100 "2019-06-17T06:05:15Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > hajario, you’re talking about Elizabeth McGovern. She is American. When she was 30 or 31, she married a British man, and apparently she’s lived in the U.K. since then. Her character Cora Crawley is supposed to have married a British aristocrat when she was 22 and lived in the U.K. ever since then. So she was exactly the right casting - an American who’s lived most of her adult life in the U.K. That’s funny. I thought she was a Brit doing a terrible American accent. Thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354.md?page=6)