I’ve always understood that actors’ “stage dialects” are usually nothing but embarrassing imitations to the ears of native speakers of the dialect in question. But when I watch British Hugh Laurie do House, I would not guess he was not American if I didn’t already know. Are there any American actors who can do as convincing-to-British-ears a job in a British character?
One thing to bear in mind: American TV pays waaaaaay better than British, Irish or Australian TV. So, a British, Scottish, Irish or Aussie actor has a lot of incentive to come to America and to learn Yank accents well enough to fool American audiences.
That takes months or years of practice, but the financial rewards for success are great motivators. Anthony LaPaglia, Simon Baker, Jason O’Mara and Hugh Laurie make a lot of money now because they put in a lot of work in order to reap big paychecks.
American actors undoubtedly COULD learn foreign accents equally well, but why would they bother? Where’s the financial incentive to perfect a Scottish burr when a blatantly phony one like James Doohan’s is sufficient to fool domestic audiences?
For what it’s worth, I’ve seen BBC productions in England and RTE productions in Ireland in which British/Irish actors were playing comical American characters, and their accents were atrocious. But really, why SHOULD an Irish actor develop a spot-on American accent if he’s only playing a small part on a show only his fellow Irishmen are watching?
I find James Marsters’ English accent more convincing than his American accent, and the guy’s a lifelong Californian, so go figure. The worst fake American accent I’ve heard was from one of the Sharpe’s Rifles sequels, a British soldier who was from a Loyalist Virginia family. He spoke like Elvis.
But, I’m an American and hope some UK types weigh in soon.
Alexis Denisof played Brit uber-ponce (on Buffy) turned rogue demon hunter* Wesley on Angel. Scaaary!
*“What’s a rogue demon?”
Because they’re not good enough to make it in the US? They prefer to live somewhere else? I dunno, but plenty of US actors go abroad to work.
Kevin Costner in Robin Hood.
Duh.
I would have guessed Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Whenever I’m with my British friends I talk just like that so as to make them feel at home.
You’re kidding right?
Just in case you’re not - his English accent is terrible. It took me a while to realise he was trying to do an English / cockney accent. It really is all over the place (which actually suits the character well). The worst is when he sings and he goes back to his US accent. And I say this all as a big Spike fan.
Don’t forget Christian Bale, whose American is impeccable, and who stays in-character (accent and all) throughout shooting. I’ve heard that people who work for him for the first time often don’t find out he’s English until after they’re done filming the project and he starts speaking naturally.
ETA: If you’re looking for it, you can tell he’s straining it a little during the more frantic scenes in American Psycho, but he seemed totally convincing in The Dark Knight.
I’m curious: what, exactly, does a badly-mimicked American accent sound like? Does anyone have some YouTube links they can share?
The bad ones I’ve heard are high and sing-songy. I start wondering if I missed the scene where the character got high and swallowed some helium - then I realize, no, they’re just supposed to be American.
For years in my (misspent) youth I wondered what was supposed to be so funny about certain Monty Python characters. The laughtrack suggested that everything they said was hilarious, but I couldn’t quite see why.
Then came The Meaning Of Life where Death says to a partygoer, “You bloody Americans…” and I finally got it.
That weird accent with the over-emphasized ‘R’ sounds, not even a hint of a final ‘G’, and totally inappropriate ‘H’ enunciations was supposed to be American. They simply took the most obvious (to them) differences, regardless of regionality, and exaggerated them and that = American.
Probably better than their Welsh, I bet. (My brain hurts)
The Meaning of Life has some pretty egregious “North American” accents at some points (e.g., the boardroom meeting: “item six on the agender”), as do Monty Python in general (“suspendies and a brar… just like my dear papar”; this sort of thing is probably the most noticeable common mistake when Brits attempt American/Canadian accents), but the partygoer addressed by Death was played by Terry Gilliam, a bona fide American.
Yeah, but ‘e was doin’ ha typically bad, hoverrrdone 'Merrrkin haccent hin that scene, has hI rrrecall. Methinks they ‘ad caught hon hand werrre playin’ hit for laughs by that point.
Is Pratchett’s Mrs. Whitlow (head maid at Unseen University) supposed to be American? I remember that she’s represented as talking like that.
ETA: Maybe Mrs. Cake as well.
Not my sort of film, but Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones was pretty spot on for the character.
Has Meryl Streep ever done a British accent?
I recently saw a new British independent film, “Telstar”, which featured Kevin Spacey as chap called Major Banks. Apparently, the director (Nick Moran) gave him a copy of “The Dam Busters” to help him get an officer-type accent. He almost managed it…
At least twice.
In Plenty and The French Lieutenant’s Woman her accent is pretty much flawless. Her secret, as she once explained, is simply to listen to what is going on around her.
The main problem I have with American actors doing British characters is they think we’re all Cockneys or unbelievably posh. Bridget Jones was a good example of this - Renee Zellweger’s accent wasn’t bad, but I don’t think someone of the sort of lower middle-class background the character was supposed to have would sound so plummy.
Add Bob Hoskins to the list of British actors with flawless accents. I had no idea he was British when I saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit.