# Did They Ever Give Manuel's (Fawlty Towers) Last Name **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2017, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701 "2017-10-24T12:17:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/21 "2017-10-26T13:16:53Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Connie Booth is American, but she was definitely using a British accent while playing Polly. I won’t presume to comment on the quality of that accent. I thought she was British, so it’s definitely passable. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/22 "2017-10-26T14:07:54Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I thought she was British, so it’s definitely passable. She was born in Indiana, grew up there and in New York. Here’s an [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-sVmln7GXM) from a few years ago where she definitely sounds American. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/23 "2017-10-26T14:29:11Z")
Fawlty titties. . . ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/24 "2017-10-26T14:35:07Z")
Flowery Twats. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/25 "2017-10-26T17:09:32Z")
Farty Towels ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/26 "2017-10-26T23:14:00Z")
Flay Otters ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/27 "2017-10-27T03:05:25Z")
Connie Booth has apparently lived in Britain since 1969. Spend enough time immersed in another culture and you end up talking like them without even thinking about it. Gillian Anderson is another such case. Her accent changes, depending on which country she’s in. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/28 "2017-10-27T07:05:58Z")
I was always thought his last name was Don’t Mind Him, He’s From Barcelona. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/29 "2017-10-27T12:32:18Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Connie Booth has apparently lived in Britain since 1969. Spend enough time immersed in another culture and you end up talking like them without even thinking about it. > > Gillian Anderson is another such case. Her accent changes, depending on which country she’s in. Except that Fawlty Towers was first filmed in 1975 only 6 years after she moved to Britain, and the interview I linked above is from 2009, and she definitely has an American accent. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/30 "2017-10-27T14:47:46Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Except that Fawlty Towers was first filmed in 1975 only 6 years after she moved to Britain, and the interview I linked above is from 2009, and she definitely has an American accent. Yes, of course. My point was, you pick up a foreign accent in an immersion situation, but you revert to your natural one when you return to your original habitat. The same thing happened to me when I lived in Cambridge back in the '70s, and then went back to Minneapolis. In America, she talks like an American; in Britain, like a Brit. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/31 "2017-10-27T15:02:04Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Yes, of course. My point was, you pick up a foreign accent in an immersion situation, but you revert to your natural one when you return to your original habitat. The same thing happened to me when I lived in Cambridge back in the '70s, and then went back to Minneapolis. > > In America, she talks like an American; in Britain, like a Brit. But she still lives in London, or at least did so at the time of the interview. She’s lived there for the past several decades, even after leaving acting. ---
**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:** [October 27, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/32 "2017-10-27T15:02:42Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > She was born in Indiana, grew up there and in New York. Here’s an [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-sVmln7GXM) from a few years ago where she definitely sounds American. Even in that you can hear English influence in certain words. Regardless the character was English and she was putting on an English accent in the show. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/33 "2017-10-27T23:38:49Z")
Actually Connie’s [Jimmy Cagney](https://youtu.be/pAKLs6uIVjQ?t=54) and [honky tonk country and western singing](https://youtu.be/Uy15m_EiQ-A?t=1517) showcased her fine range of accents. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/34 "2017-10-27T23:49:20Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Yes, of course. My point was, you pick up a foreign accent in an immersion situation, but you revert to your natural one when you return to your original habitat. The same thing happened to me when I lived in Cambridge back in the '70s, and then went back to Minneapolis. > > In America, she talks like an American; in Britain, like a Brit. That’s funny. I’m from Manhattan, but I’ve lived more years in Indiana than anywhere else. People from Indiana think I sound like I’m from New York, and people from New York think I sound like I’m from Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/35 "2017-10-28T17:58:13Z")
Note that Carol Cleveland spent nearly all of her childhood in the US. Is there something about American-raised women that the Pythons find amusing? ---
**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:** [October 28, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/36 "2017-10-28T18:49:08Z")
> [@filmstar-en](#): > > Polly had an American accent. In rhyming slang, Sherman stands for Sherman Tank - Yank. > [@muldoonthief](#): > > Connie Booth is American, but she was definitely using a British accent while playing Polly. I won’t presume to comment on the quality of that accent. Yes, on the show, Polly was meant to be speaking with a British accent. So far as I can tell, it was a pretty good one. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/37 "2017-10-28T19:04:56Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Yes, on the show, Polly was meant to be speaking with a British accent. So far as I can tell, it was a pretty good one. What really is funny, now that I think back, is that when Polly sings “I’m Just a Girl Who Cain’t Say ‘No,’” her Oklahoma accent is really terrible. She sounds like someone who has never been anywhere near the US. When I first saw _Fawlty Towers_, I didn’t know anything about Connie Booth, and just assumed she was English. Not that I’m an expert on the accents. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701/38 "2017-10-29T18:00:47Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Yes, on the show, Polly was meant to be speaking with a British accent. So far as I can tell, it was a pretty good one. I lived in England for a year, and she certainly had me fooled! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-give-manuels-fawlty-towers-last-name/799701.md?page=1)