# Are there any American actors who have accurately imitated a British accent?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354>\
**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:** 2\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/101 "2019-06-17T08:11:38Z")

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> [@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.

This might be the right time to bring up the Mid-Atlantic or Transatlantic accent - which I had assumed was just the consequence of someone spending a bit of time on either side of the Atlantic.

Looking it up on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent)it appears it was actually a purposeful thing what that you were taught to do to accentuate your class / quality credentials, and was a mainstay of elitist prep schools and the theatre.

Exponents include Frasier Crane, Thurston and Lovey Howell III and Cruella de Ville.

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**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 17, 2019, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-american-actors-who-have-accurately-imitated-a-british-accent/835354/102 "2019-06-17T19:14:52Z")

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> [@hajario](#):
>
> That’s funny. I thought she was a Brit doing a terrible American accent. Thanks.

Even before she moved to England I found her speech to be weirdly affected so maybe that’s what you are picking up on.

> [@Banksiaman](#):
>
> This might be the right time to bring up the Mid-Atlantic or Transatlantic accent - which I had assumed was just the consequence of someone spending a bit of time on either side of the Atlantic.
> 
> Looking it up on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent)it appears it was actually a purposeful thing what that you were taught to do to accentuate your class / quality credentials, and was a mainstay of elitist prep schools and the theatre.
> 
> Exponents include Frasier Crane, Thurston and Lovey Howell III and Cruella de Ville.

Let’s not forget Charles Emerson Winchester III.

I’ve found it nearly impossible to tell the difference between John Noble’s English and American posh accent. In real life he sounds very Australian.

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