# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/141 "2006-05-30T14:52:57Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I’ve read an interview with Jane Leeves, where she said it was a deliberatly-false accent, because it needed to be one recognisably-British to American ears, but also one they could understand. That’s interesting - after reading your comment I asked my wife, who is American, what she thought of Daphne’s accent and she said it sounds somewhat fake, but it is easy to understand. So it sounds as if Ms. Leeves has done a good job. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/142 "2006-05-30T15:24:57Z")
Re: Band of Brothers accents > [@DxZero](#): > > **Marc Warren (Private Blithe)**, whom I just realized is the guy from **Hustle** , sounds like he’s doing a passable Carolina type accent. Again, its pretty deliberate, but that might just be how his character is supposed to talk. That is, indeed, how his character was supposed to sound. Same for **Peter Youngblood Hills (“Shifty” Powers)** and **Frank John Hughes (“Wild Bill” Guarnere**. The latter two (and Damian Lewis) had the benefit of actually meeting the men they were portraying, so they could get the accent down a little better. First time I watched, that was how I figured out which veteran was Wild Bill in the interviews before each episode. Many of the guys in BoB have completely different voices when speaking in their own accent. I’ve failed to recognize Dexter Fletcher (Johnny Martin) and Ross McCall (Liebgott) in other roles because they sound so different. Unfortunately, Ross Geller (Herbert Sobel) sounded _exACTly_ like Ross Geller, with all his weird emphasis on random syllables. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/143 "2006-05-30T15:30:10Z")
There’s a general observation you can make, and that is that doing accents is really hard. We think it ought to be in the bag of tricks of a working actor, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. And from a business perspective, producers know that a film does not rise or fall on the quality of the accents. If Brad Pitt’s Ulster accent is a little off, what do American audiences care? And speaking of accents that are never done right, how about the Boston accent? I’ve never heard it done right. Think _Mystic River_. The usual placeholder is a faux Brooklyn accent, lightly toasted. But I’ve even noticed that real Bostonians who lose their accent can never get it back again. Also by the way… has anyone mentioned Tracy Ullman yet? Her skill at accents is extraordinary. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/144 "2006-05-30T15:34:25Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Well, to be fair, a black guy can also play… [snip]… the Magical African-American Friend (the wise, soulful, saintly black person, often with literal magic powers, who spends all their time teaching their uptight white friend how to live, laugh, and love). … which is all the more magical, seeing how in 90% of cases, Mystic Negroes have no independent life, amusements or love lives of their own other than advising de white folks. :rolleyes: ---
**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 30, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/145 "2006-05-30T19:21:03Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Was she supposed to be American? I always assumed she was expat European, just on accent alone. She’s just “Laura”, no obvious surname, IIRC. The movie doesn’t set it out explicitly. (In the novel, of course, everyone is English, so that doesn’t help.) In the funeral scene, there is a tiny Danish flag on the mantelpiece, but her family doesn’t seem to have European accents. And her accent doesn’t so much seem “European” as “European trying very hard to sound American.” And for the most part her pronunciations are American, but have that “trying very hard” quality. (First time I saw it, I didn’t know she was Danish.) I think it would have been much better to let her use her natural accent. Catherine Zeta-Jones didn’t have to try to sound American. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/146 "2006-05-30T19:39:12Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Re: Band of Brothers accents > > That is, indeed, how his character was supposed to sound. Same for **Peter Youngblood Hills (“Shifty” Powers)** and **Frank John Hughes (“Wild Bill” Guarnere**. The latter two (and Damian Lewis) had the benefit of actually meeting the men they were portraying, so they could get the accent down a little better. The first time I saw BoB, I thought the actor who played “Wild Bill” was doing a ridiculous, albeit entertaining, Philadelphia accent. (I’m from right outside Philly and the Philly accent is almost always overdone in movies). But then I saw the interview with the real Bill Guarnere and damn, if Frank John Hughes didn’t nail it perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/147 "2006-05-30T20:14:51Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Ahh, that explains it. What tipped me off was his continued mis-pronunciation (for an American) of “barrage” balloon. You see, we say buh-RAHJ. You say BEAR-uhj. It was causing me fits. The really obvious one is r-epenthesis, where they tack r’s onto lots of vowels that don’t need them in overcompensation for where North Americans use them word-finally where Britons don’t. Like Kryten on _Red Dwarf_: “Tereser, sir. Mother Tereser.” One of the more disorienting natural accents I’ve heard is Marina Sirtis’s goofy cockney, after years of the pseudo-Greekish Deanna thing. (At one point I had this prolonged theory of why Deanna had that accent, given that both her parents have American accents, but…) The really ludicrous thing for me is on those extremely rare occasions where a mainstream movie is set in Quebec, all the actors have France French accents. The best/worst example I know is _Taking Lives_ - all the SQ talk like Hercule Poirot. (Add that to all the shots of the Château Frontenac used to establish that this is Montreal… :rolleyes: ) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/148 "2006-05-30T20:14:53Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > … which is all the more magical, seeing how in 90% of cases, Mystic Negroes have no independent life, amusements or love lives of their own other than advising de white folks. :rolleyes: Well, it’s not like a MAAF needs to spend any time helping BLACK people nowadays. And by the way, it sure makes me feel good to know that our friendship absolves me, personally, of any and all responsibility for whatever racial frictions that may or may not still exist in America. Isn’t it great that we’re all past that now? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/149 "2006-05-30T20:46:07Z")
Well, not Hercule Poirot exactly (he was Belgian) but you get the picture. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/150 "2006-05-30T22:41:01Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Re: Band of Brothers accents > > Many of the guys in BoB have completely different voices when speaking in their own accent. I’ve failed to recognize Dexter Fletcher (Johnny Martin) and Ross McCall (Liebgott) in other roles because they sound so different. Is that Dexter Fletcher’s real accent in “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels”? Because, if so, I am blown away by his American accent in BoB. That was awesome. **Re: The Philadelphia accent** (I’m a transplanted Philly-suburbs girl in Montana, so the Philly accent is a current obsession of mine…talking about it, complaining about it, celebrating it, researching its history… Please bear with me.) I feel like I’m the only one on the planet who didn’t like Frank John Hughes’ Philadelphia accent. I felt he nailed Guarnere’s own particular style of speaking and mannerisms (so props to that), but the accent itself sounded like an NYC (where Hughes is from) accent. His Os were all wrong. (You can always tell a Philly accent by the nasal Os.) On that note, Robin Laing’s (Babe Heffron’s) Philly accent was totally off (and somewhere I heard or read an hilarious account of Laing calling up the real Babe Heffron and asking him how he did with the accent and Heffron replied, “When are you going to start using it?”). Like the scene during the bombardment of Bastogne, where Doc Roe crawls into Babe’s foxhole and asks him if he’s okay, and Babe says, “No, I’m not _okay_.” He totally gets the O in “okay” wrong! It should have been like, “eh-oh-kay” (blend the “eh” and the “oh” together), and the “kay” has its own vowel sound I don’t even know how to transcribe. [This](http://www.citypaper.net/articles/081497/article008.shtml) is a great article about the Philly accent, and it describes the Philly O as such: > [@](#): > > Most Americans say “o” with a round mouth. Philadelphians don’t settle for an easy lip-lazy sound like that. We start with our mouths shaped as if they were going to say “eh?” and end up as if we’re trying to say “oo.” > > “Yeowuh Jeowuh, threowuh the ball.” [“Yo, Joe, throw the ball.”] > > Want to check your own accent? [_The article was written for a Philadelphia audience._] Say the words in this list: home, roam, chrome, gnome, loam. The last words, which you’re more likely to read than hear, are less likely to have our trademark Philly O. They all sound the same to you? Ask a pal to listen, you’ll learn different. [This](http://home.comcast.net/~plutarch/phila.html) is another great article, with a wonderful pronunciation guide. (FTR, they describe “OK” as being pronounced “Uh-kay or ukkei,” which I agree with, but Babe Heffron in that BoB episode I mentioned above did stretch out each syllable, so he really should have nasalized that O. Not that I fault Robin Laing – it’s got to be a tough accent to pull off.) All right, sock…getting stuffed back in mouth…now! ---
**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 30, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/151 "2006-05-30T23:08:10Z")
> [@gallows fodder](#): > > and Babe says, “No, I’m not _okay_.” He totally gets the O in “okay” wrong! It should have been like, “eh-oh-kay” (blend the “eh” and the “oh” together), and the “kay” has its own vowel sound I don’t even know how to transcribe. I’ve noticed the distinctive “o” sound in the accent of that sports blabbermouth Jim Rome. Is that the Philadelphia sound? ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/152 "2006-05-31T01:18:35Z")
> [@gallows fodder](#): > > On that note, Robin Laing’s (Babe Heffron’s) Philly accent was totally off (and somewhere I heard or read an hilarious account of Laing calling up the real Babe Heffron and asking him how he did with the accent and Heffron replied, “When are you going to start using it?”)… The real Babe Heffron singing “Bridget O’Flynn” is one of my favorite parts of the **We Stand Alone Together** interviews, so I’ve watched it quite a few times. He didn’t really have what I’d think of as a ‘strong’ Philly accent, so Robin Laing may not have been far off the mark by not emphasizing that. Of course, I wasn’t terribly focused on how Babe was pronouncing the “O” in his "O’Flynn"s… ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/153 "2006-06-01T03:06:13Z")
OK, so I went home and popped in my 6th Band of Brothers DVD and watched the documentary with all the real guys. A) Babe Heffron has got a thick Philly accent, and he **does** pronounce the O in “Bridget O’Flynn” with the Philly O, and you can hear it even stronger in the little story he tells after the song about getting drunk on just 2 pints of beer…listen to him say the word “no” and you’ve got it. (And if you’re ever depressed, just watch him sing and your blues will be gone. So cute.) B) Buck Taylor (a white-haired gentleman with blue eyes and a light blue button-down shirt) also has a Philly accent. C) Listening to Damian Lewis’ real English accent in the making-of doc was freaky. And I’ve seen _The Forsyte Saga_ (and he was **fantastic** in that, btw), before I saw BoB, in fact, so I don’t know why it would startle me so. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/154 "2006-06-01T04:48:45Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > I’ve noticed the distinctive “o” sound in the accent of that sports blabbermouth Jim Rome. Is that the Philadelphia sound? Nah…he’s from Cali. So I have no clue where got that accent from. By the way, gallows fodder…perfect description of the Philly accent. Mucho props to you for that. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/155 "2006-06-01T20:27:17Z")
Thanks, yo! ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/156 "2006-06-01T23:50:28Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > 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. Closest phonetic rendering I can get to how Portlanders say it is “OHR-uh-gun” where the middle syllable is barely pronounced–more of a guttural extension of the first syllable, if that makes sense… The very worst pronunciation is from Midwesterners–“OR-ee-GAWN.” Gahh–it’s like fingernails down a blackboard for me! As for the OP, over 100 posts and no love for [Connie Booth?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connie_Booth) What is the world coming to? I was sharing a hospital room with a young lady from Maidstone who introduced me to “Fawlty Towers,” and neither one of us suspected that Polly was American in origin. Apparently she still lives in London but is no longer acting or screenwriting, more’s the pity… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/157 "2006-06-02T01:01:42Z")
I first saw Hoskins in **The Long Good Friday** , so when I saw him in Roger Rabbit I was impressed with the American accent he did. ---
**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 2, 2006, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/158 "2006-06-02T07:45:41Z")
SmartAleq writes: \> The very worst pronunciation is from Midwesterners–“OR-ee-GAWN.” I don’t think that that pronunciation is particularly Midwestern. It’s doesn’t even sound to me like what any native English speaker would say. I have no idea who would say it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/159 "2006-06-02T12:11:21Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > I thought her attempt at an Australian accent in \*Evil Angels \* (aka _A Cry in the Dark_) was terrible. For some reason I always feel compelled to defend Ms Streep’s accent. Yes it was an odd sounding voice, but she was playing a real life person who has a very odd sounding voice. She may not have got what’s considered the average aussie accent, but she did get _Lindy Chaimberlain’s_ accent right. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/160 "2006-06-02T20:48:56Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > SmartAleq writes: > > \> The very worst pronunciation is from Midwesterners–“OR-ee-GAWN.” > > I don’t think that that pronunciation is particularly Midwestern. It’s doesn’t even sound to me like what any native English speaker would say. I have no idea who would say it that way. All I know is that every newscaster I hear on WGN (Chicago, right?) says it like that, and for some reason every single person I’ve ever talked to on the phone (call center, customer service–everybody asks you where you are located, as though it matters!) from Kansas, Ohio and Nebraska all say it like that too… It’s like they figure someone’s gonna slap their hands with a ruler if they don’t make sure and pronounce every single letter… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196.md?page=9)