# British, which American actor has nailed your accent the best. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196 "2006-05-25T17:19:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/81 "2006-05-26T22:23:11Z")
Though I’m a day late and a dollar short, I think this belongs in our forum for the arts. Moved from IMHO to CS. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/82 "2006-05-27T00:32:45Z")
Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman (she was born in Hawaii, though to Australian parents) both spent a lot of their younger years in Australia - we’re not as ready to call Mel “Australian” as we used to be in the 80s-90s, but he’s still considered “native” in that he did spend quite a few years living here and being an Australian. However, all of the “Australian” accents I’ve seen coming from American TV shows have always ended up sounding like a terrible mish-mash of irish and cockney. I am not a big watcher of Australian movies (we don’t do movies very well IMHO), so I don’t know if there are any americans who’ve starred in Australian movies as Australians, and pulled off the accent convincingly. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/83 "2006-05-27T00:47:12Z")
What’s puzzling is that the director and most of the cast of _Mary Poppins_ were British. Didn’t anyone think to correct Dick Van Dyke’s attempt at Cockney? ---
**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:** [May 27, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/84 "2006-05-27T00:52:26Z")
In those action movies with Danny Glover, I found Mel Gibson’s accent to be ambiguous. I didn’t know his personal background at the time, and I couldn’t figure out what his accent was. It didn’t sound like anything in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/85 "2006-05-27T00:55:34Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > In those action movies with Danny Glover, I found Mel Gibson’s accent to be ambiguous. I didn’t know his personal background at the time, and I couldn’t figure out what his accent was. It didn’t sound like anything in particular. According to Mel’s wiki page, when he did the first few Lethal Weapon movies, he was still growing out of his Australian accent - having only been in America full-time for a few years. I think he was just trying to be as neutral as possible, based on what I remember of seeing those movies. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/86 "2006-05-27T00:59:27Z")
> [@Sierra Indigo](#): > > According to Mel’s wiki page, when he did the first few Lethal Weapon movies, he was still growing out of his Australian accent - having only been in America full-time for a few years. I think he was just trying to be as neutral as possible, based on what I remember of seeing those movies. There are definite moments in Lethal Weapon 1 (which has been run on TNT at least once a week for 10 years it seems) when his accent definetely shows. I’d probably be able to guess where he was from, even if I didn’t already know. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/87 "2006-05-27T01:04:58Z")
What about the guys from Spinal Tap? I always thought they did a pretty good job (actually, this was originally brought to my attention by some British friends of mine.) ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/88 "2006-05-27T01:26:05Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > What about the guys from Spinal Tap? I always thought they did a pretty good job (actually, this was originally brought to my attention by some British friends of mine.) Oh god no. Good film, terrible accents. Those accents seemed to be a bad attempt at being Mick Jagger… and hearing it emulated many times since is a surefire way to spot an American actor trying to be British. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/89 "2006-05-27T02:12:01Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Well, to be fair, a black guy can also play a Wrongheaded Commanding Officer (“You’re off the case McGarnigle! If I hear about you poking around that Haunted Bus Stop one more time, I’ll have your badge!”). A very effective word picture, if I might say so. I immediately know the type you’re referring to. But the fact remains (not that you’re disputing it at all) that a black American very rarely gets to enjoy a good meaty real evil role. They all seem to go to Gene Hackman. Re Hugh Laurie, “having a bowel movement” is a brilliant description. He has clearly worked SO hard at a) getting the voice right and b) getting it to match his (boring!) sterotypical television stereotypical driven brilliant misunderstood doctor persona. Did anyone else think that Mike Myers based his Shrek on Robbie Coltrane? Obviously, [yes](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/reviews/1412236.stm). ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/90 "2006-05-27T02:21:44Z")
Another nomination for Juliet Landau for the Dick Van Dyke Awful Bloody Accent Award (the “Bloimy”). And further appreciation for Denisov and Marsters; closest I’ve heard to flawless. Bette Davis, in _Of Human Bondage_, did a pretty bad accent too. But to be fair, that was when Talkies were still relatively new, and where have most of us heard our non-local accents? Movies and TV. Before mass media, you had to know an English person personally to be familiar with the accent. So I doubt if most of her audience could tell the difference any more than she could. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/91 "2006-05-27T03:02:52Z")
Hmm, the one I heard praised was indeed Spinal Tap. > [@Szlater](#): > > Oh god no. > > Good film, terrible accents. > > Those accents seemed to be a bad attempt at being Mick Jagger… and hearing it emulated many times since is a surefire way to spot an American actor trying to be British. Thread #273215 had very positive responses about it. And this quote > [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > The best Americans doing a British acccent? Spinal Tap. > > It even fools us Brits even those of us from Squatney. > > Most Americans are shocking at english accents, thimk Johnny Depp in from hell. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/92 "2006-05-27T03:52:22Z")
Szlater writes: \> I thougt the best, deliberately bad accents were the ones of the ‘Wee Britain’ \> residents in ‘Arrested Development’, Charlize Theron in particular. Theron is South African. I’ve heard interviews with her recently though, and even when not in character she sounds American. It appears that she has decided that since all her roles from now on are going to be as an American, she might as well just use an American accent all the time. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/93 "2006-05-27T04:03:55Z")
astro writes: \> The “Without A Trace” lead actor Anthony LaPaglia is also Australian The interesting thing is that LaPaglia only uses one accent for all of his American roles (and he now does little except American roles). It’s apparently supposed to be a third-generation Italian-American from the New York area. I presume that when he was studying acting, he took a course in doing American accents and told the teacher that he didn’t want to learn the vaguely Midwestern accent that most non-American actors learn. He decided to learn the accent he usually uses instead. I once conjectured that he told the teacher, “Pretend that my grandparents emigrated to New York instead of Adelaide.” That isn’t quite right though, since in fact his father emigrated from Italy and his mother emigrated from the Netherlands. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/94 "2006-05-27T04:08:58Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > When I first saw _House_, it nagged at me for days that I knew this guy from somewhere, but I just couldn’t place it. A few days later, my wife was watching a rerun of the _Friends_ episode . He was in Friends? Which episode? ---
**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:** [May 27, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/95 "2006-05-27T04:11:45Z")
Hippy Hollow writes: \> Madonna’s accent is crap as well. Madonna is a weird case. Several years before moving to the U.K. to move in with Guy Ritchie, have a baby, and get married, her accent started changing. No one understood what the heck she was trying for. It sounded vaguely (but only vaguely) British, but mostly it sounded weird. Some people guessed that she was taking elocution lessons from an insane teacher. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/96 "2006-05-27T04:22:37Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > Oh god no. > > Good film, terrible accents. > > Those accents seemed to be a bad attempt at being Mick Jagger… and hearing it emulated many times since is a surefire way to spot an American actor trying to be British. I guess it must definitely be in the ear of the beholder. I’ve only spent a few months living in Britain (in the Midlands), so I’m not the best arbiter of these things, but several Brits I know have praised the accent in this movie. Personally, I never really thought about the accents in this movie until it was pointed out to me by those guys. ---
**Author:** ![Racer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@Racer1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer1)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/97 "2006-05-27T13:02:28Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Bloom’s character is from Portland, so he’d damn well better say it right. At the risk of sounding like a dribbling idiot (a risk I should probably be used to by now), please could someone write the pronunciation of Oregon out phonetically for me? I did think I knew how it is pronounced, but now I’m not so sure! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/98 "2006-05-27T13:11:15Z")
What **Racer1** said - seconded. I am now worried that there might be a mystery or a complication here that I had not known about. Ta muchly in advance. 😃 ---
**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:** [May 27, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/99 "2006-05-27T14:03:27Z")
> [@Racer1](#): > > At the risk of sounding like a dribbling idiot (a risk I should probably be used to by now), please could someone write the pronunciation of Oregon out phonetically for me? I did think I knew how it is pronounced, but now I’m not so sure! > > Thanks! Most of us pronounce it as OR-uh-GONE, with at least some stress on the last syllable. According to Oregonians, the correct pronunciation is OR-i-gun, with the only stress on the first syllable. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/100 "2006-05-27T14:07:32Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > According to Oregonians, the correct pronunciation is OR-i-gun, with the only stress on the first syllable. I _think_ that’s how I pronounce it, as it matches general British tendencies to trail off place names (e.g. Birm-ing-ham, Alabama vs. Birm-ing-um, West Midlands) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196.md?page=6)