# Dick Van Dyke's legacy: worst accents in movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880 "2004-08-01T22:56:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/101 "2004-08-04T13:53:10Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > commasense writes: > > \> I think I can say without fear of contradiction that not a single Hollywood actor > \> who has ever appeared in a film set in Baltimore has ever come close to > \> capturing it. > > I think that it may be better if they don’t try. Just because a movie is set in Baltimore doesn’t mean that all the characters will speak in what you think of as a Baltimore accent (which not that many people in Baltimore speak with, to be honest). It might be better to explain away the actors who don’t speak with Baltimore accents as being born elsewhere. There’s a lot of people (like me, for instance) who were born elsewhere but who, like me, speak in nothing like a Baltimore accent. I presumably speak like what I am, someone who’s spent most of his adult life in Maryland but who grew up in rural northwest Ohio and also spent significant amounts of time in Florida, Texas, and England. Yeah, I live in Greenbelt, in the Washington suburbs, but that’s just an accidental thing. I could have chosen, like most of my co-workers, to live in the Baltimore suburbs or in Baltimore itself. True enough, but in Barry Levinson’s Baltimore trilogy (\*Diner, Tin Men, \*and _Avalon_) and in _The Wire_, many, if not most, characters are supposed to be second or third generation working-class east Baltimoreans, who would have at least a trace of the twang. But since it’s an elusive sound that would only be evocative to those of us who know it, it’s probably not worth spending time trying to train the actors to master it. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/102 "2004-08-04T15:15:20Z")
> [@Captain Lance Murdoch](#): > > As for Kenneth Branagh, I heard an interview with him on the subject of doing American accents and said he eschews regional dialects and goes for a “generic” American sound. I find this quite common in movies. The only American accent I recall from Branagh was in “Dead Again”, where it came across to me as the World’ Worst Mandy Patinkin Impersonation. Emma Thomson’s accent was excellent, however. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/103 "2004-08-04T15:36:09Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Oh, and how was James Marsters as Spike? At least he didn’t go in and out. I have heard him speak out of character, though, and it’s a big weird to hear the flat American accent. Really - I’m English, a Buffy fan and was really surprised to find out he wasn’t English. Accent seems fine to me - certainly can’t be ranked with the Costner’s and the DVD’s of this world. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/104 "2004-08-04T15:36:31Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Maybe in The Cities the accent isn’t so noticeable, but get in rural areas, and oh yeah - it’s spot on. I thought some of the cast did well. Frances McDormand in particular. Others were just over the top. People here don’t say “ya” the way they did in the movie. William H. Macy’s accent wasn’t right to me. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/105 "2004-08-04T17:20:31Z")
With James Marsters, it’s probably worth noting that his accent isn’t supposed to be good - he’s playing a guy who’s pretending to be Cockney, so if it’s over-the-top, that would make sense. (Granted that’s probably a big case of ret-conning.) Lookitme, using words like rec-con. Never would’ve done that before I started posting here. Was Bjork even supposed to be American in _Dancer in the Dark_? Maybe I told myself her character had to be an immigrant. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/106 "2004-08-04T17:36:23Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a single occasion where an actor’s attempt at a regional accent was greeted with universal acclaim. In preparing for _Bridget Jones’ Diary_, Renée Zellweger lived in London for several months and, incognito, took a low-paying job in a shop in order to practice her accent. Nobody had any idea that she was anything other than a native Londoner. And yet, once the movie was released, critics and moviegoers alike scorned her attempt at an English accent. For every comment I have read about how horrible the “Minnesota nice” accents were in _Fargo_, I have read another from someone declaring that their Midwestern cousins “talk just like that.” The accent that seems to attract the most venom, though, is American Southern. I think it’s one of the easiest accents to acquire, at least as far as fooling non-Southerners. But as soon as a non-Southern actor opens his or her mouth on-screen to attempt it, the tomatoes begin flying. I’m not sure what causes this kind of hypersensitivity. Is it an expression of local pride, wherein we demand accurate representations of what we perceive as “our culture”? Or is it the almost irresistible impulse to indulge in playing the expert? I tend to vote for the latter. My theater company is headed by an octogenarian British grand damme who delivers a brief introduction before each performance. An audience member some years ago once commented that the production she had attended was quite good – except for the old lady who gave the speech at the beginning in that “horribly phony English accent.” ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/107 "2004-08-07T03:44:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Was Bjork even supposed to be American in **Dancer in the Dark**? Maybe I told myself her character had to be an immigrant. :rolleyes: Her character was Czech, but Björk herself is Icelandic. It’s been so long since I’ve seen the movie that I can’t remember _what_ her accent sounded like. Does anyone know if she even attempted a Czech accent? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/108 "2004-08-07T04:15:47Z")
Nobody can do an Irish accent, except the Irish. Nobody. I don’t know what it is. I lived in Ireland for half a year, and I never got close. I was challenged to fake it one night and nearly got laughed out of the pub. I’ll tell you, the Cork accent is a trip…tink about sayin’ dis, dat, an’ de udder ting, an’ dere y’are. I couldn’t understand what my landlord was saying to me half the time. It always amazed me that such a small country could have such a variety of clearly distinct and really quite beautiful accents…all equally difficult to emulate, as far as I’m concerned. Given that nobody, and I do really mean _nobody_, can successfully affect an Irish accent, why in the _hell_ doesn’t Hollywood ever see fit to cast actual Irish in Irish roles? I mean WTF is the matter with Irish actors? What, are there only two in the whole world…lesse, Stephen Rea and, er…the other one? Oh yeah, Colm Meaney. Look, I was there. There are some smokin’ HOT Irish ladies running around the Emerald Isle, and yet we get treated to, oh, Minnie Driver’s, or Julia Roberts’ broguenstein’s monster accent. Well, OK, Minnie did so-so, but, I mean, _damn_, Hollywood could do better, you know? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/109 "2004-08-07T04:16:14Z")
I’ve told this story once before, but I still think it’s amusing enough to post again. A few years ago, there was a spy drama on American TV called “The Agency.” One of the American CIA agents on the show was Stiles, played by Jason O’Mara. In one episode, Stiles was undercover, posing as an I.R.A. terrorist, in order to break up a dangerous ring of arms merchants. And I swear, his Irish accent was ridiculously bad! It sounded as if O’Mara couldn’t decide whether he was supposed to be an Irishman or a Scotsman, and couldn’t keep his accents straight. I was rolling my eyes at how bad his Irish accent was. At the very end of the episode, of course, he encountered the REAL Irish terrorist he’d been impersonating all along. And the real Irish terrorist told him, “If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you. And one more thing- you’d better DO something about that phony Irish accent of yours.” I got a big laugh out of that- I was sort of pleased that the show’s director and/or writers recognized how bad O’Mara’s attempt at sounding Irish was. But wait… it wasn’t until months later that I found out actor Jason O’Mara was born and raised in Dublin! Which means… 1. Native-born Irishman Jason O’Mara speaks “American” well enough to fool me completely. I never guessed he was anything but a Yank. 2. Not only is he talented enough to pass for an American, he’s ALSO talented enough to a spot-on imitation of a hapless American putting on a pathetic, fake Irish brogue! ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Sparky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Saint\_Sparky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Sparky)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/110 "2004-08-07T06:24:01Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Most attempts at an Australian accent by non-Australian actors fall well short of the mark. Meryl Streep’s effort in \*A Cry in the Dark \* was particularly bad. I actually thought it was pretty decent, but because I saw it having more of a Queenslander twang to it then the average Australian accent (think Pauline Hanson). ---
**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:** [August 7, 2004, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/111 "2004-08-07T06:28:27Z")
I do a pretty mean impression of an Australian TV sports (cricket) commentator called Richie Benaud, which gets dusted off for various after-dinner functions. However, I can’t get close to a generic Australian accent (say, Sydney strine). I wonder how common it is to get individuals in countries (or regions) who sound nothing like the rest of their fellow inhabitants. Any more examples? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/112 "2004-08-07T06:38:32Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Nobody can do an Irish accent, except the Irish. Nobody. I have to disagree with this - I’ve seen British actors do very good Irish accents (most recent example: the film In America, in which both of the lead characters, I discovered to my shock after seeing it, are from England). Also, I didn’t see Veronica Guerin but Cate Blanchett’s Irish accent was pretty much universally acclaimed here. Specifically there seems to be a problem with _American_ actors doing Irish accents. The only explanation I can offer for this is that few Americans ever learn what distinguishes Irish accents from Generic English Speaking Foreigner ™ and by the time actors try to do it, it’s too little too late. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/113 "2004-08-07T07:51:02Z")
Did anyone else who saw the movie _Heathers_ agree with me that the accents of the high school kids in that film didn’t sound right, given that the film takes place in Ohio? I thought that they sounded very Californian to me. I wonder if they just didn’t bother to get the accents right or if I’m so out of it that I don’t realize that that’s what an Ohioan teenager sounds like these days. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2004, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/114 "2004-08-07T08:06:46Z")
scotandrsn writes: \> The only American accent I recall from Branagh was in “Dead Again”, where it \> came across to me as the World’ Worst Mandy Patinkin Impersonation. I recall reading an interview with Branagh at the time _Dead Again_ came out in which he talking about working with a dialect coach before starting the movie. His first attempt at an accent drew the reaction from the coach that the character was supposed to be Californian, so he’d better quit sounding so obviously a New Yorker. What did people here think of Branagh’s accent in _Celebrity_? I didn’t mind it, but a lot of people who saw the film had the reaction, “Why is he doing a dead-on Woody Allen imitation?” His character in that film (written and directed by Woody Allen) was supposed to be a typical Woody Allen protagonist - neurotic New York intellectual. Of course, he was also supposed to be very WASP. At one point you see the character wearing a Yale sweatshirt, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/115 "2004-08-07T13:18:28Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > Also, I didn’t see Veronica Guerin but Cate Blanchett’s Irish accent was pretty much universally acclaimed here. Really? I did see Veronica Guerin, and I wasn’t impressed. I guess I didn’t think she sounded all that Northern, but I can hardly claim your expertise. Anyhoo, the day I hear a non-Irish actor nail, say, a Cork or a Donegal accent, then I’ll be impressed. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/116 "2004-08-07T14:38:43Z")
> [@](#): > > characters are supposed to be second or third generation working-class east Baltimoreans I thought the proper term was Baltimoron. At least it was when I went to UMD 😉 I know this thread is about bad accents but I need to mention two great ones. I just watched LA Confidential the other day and both Russell Crowe and especially Guy Pearce do great American accents. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/117 "2004-08-07T14:50:59Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Was Bjork even supposed to be American in _Dancer in the Dark_? Maybe I told myself her character had to be an immigrant. :rolleyes: As **MidnightRadio** says, she was meant to be Czech. This was fairly important to the plot. I’m not sure what **Captain Lance Murdoch** meant by calling _Dancer in the Dark_ the “worst group effort I’ve ever heard of American accents”, since most of the major characters were immigrants anyway. The Catherine Deneuve character was originally intended to be African-American, but was rewritten as a French immigrant after Deneuve expressed an interest in the part. The only important American character I can remember was the man living next door to Bjork, but he was played by American actor David Morse. His wife, a comparatively minor role, was played by Cara Seymour. She is British, but it looks like all her other screen credits are in American films and I don’t remember noticing anything strange about her American accent. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/118 "2004-08-07T16:58:29Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Really? I did see Veronica Guerin, and I wasn’t impressed. I guess I didn’t think she sounded all that Northern Well she wasn’t supposed to sound Northern. Veronica Guerin was born and raised right here in Dublin. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/119 "2004-08-07T17:02:29Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I just watched LA Confidential the other day and both Russell Crowe and especially Guy Pearce do great American accents. Russell Crowe’s American accent in The Insider was phenomenal. I didn’t know who he was before I saw that film and I was absolutely shocked to find out he wasn’t American. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880/120 "2004-08-07T17:21:10Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > Well she wasn’t supposed to sound Northern. Veronica Guerin was born and raised right here in Dublin. Ahhhhh… :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-van-dykes-legacy-worst-accents-in-movies/257880.md?page=7)