# Good southern US accents in movies and TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2000, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248 "2000-11-15T03:21:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/41 "2013-06-12T00:29:38Z")
Ancient History, but I have to ask: Scout & Jem in “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Please tell me they were actual (or very close to it). Lie to me if you must (I Love that movie!) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/42 "2013-06-12T03:32:34Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > Ancient History, but I have to ask: Scout & Jem in “To Kill A Mockingbird”. > Please tell me they were actual (or very close to it). > Lie to me if you must (I Love that movie!) They’re real Southerners. Mary Badham (Scout) was born in Birmingham Alabama. Phillip Alford (Jem) was born in Gadsden Alabama. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/43 "2013-06-12T19:40:09Z")
Tommy Lee Jones in almost all his movies. But then he’s from Texas. He also speaks fluent Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/44 "2013-06-13T04:29:13Z")
Unfortunately, TLJ sounded like a Texan even when he played Thaddeus Stevens, a Vermont-born Congressman from Pennsylvania, in _Lincoln_. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/45 "2013-06-13T04:50:03Z")
> **[Calleigh Duquesne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calleigh_Duquesne)** > > Detective Calleigh Duquesne is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama CSI: Miami, portrayed by Emily Procter. > Calleigh is a ballistics and tool mark specialist originally from Louisiana. She is fluent in Spanish and has a bachelor's degree in Physics from Tulane University. While working for the New Orleans Police Department, she was given the nickname "Bullet Girl" for her knowledge of, and expertise with, firearms. > Calleigh is an almost eternal optimist, with a sunny disposition and a s... Calleigh Duquesne from CSI Miami, I love her accent. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/46 "2013-06-13T04:55:26Z")
I’ve also been watching Wings and Helen has a great accent, but that is because the actress is actually from Texas > **[Wings (1990 TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_%28NBC_TV_series%29#Helen_Chappel_Hackett)** > > Wings is an American sitcom television series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from April 19, 1990, to May 21, 1997, for a total of 172 episodes. > The show is set at the fictional "Tom Nevers Field" airport, a small two-airline airport in Nantucket, Massachusetts (not to be confused with the actual Nantucket Memorial Airport), where the Hackett brothers operate Sandpiper Air, their single-plane airline. The majority of the episodes are set in the airport. > Tim Daly and Steven Weber starred as ... ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/47 "2013-06-14T13:03:57Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > I’ve also been watching Wings and Helen has a great accent, but that is because the actress is actually from Texas Crystal and her sister Robyn were friends of mine in college and yes, that’s just the way they really talk. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/48 "2013-06-14T14:16:25Z")
> [@bwk](#): > > It is interesting to me that Leigh had an English accent, but managed a southern accent. Actually it’s less surprising than you might think. There used to be a show on movie making years ago on Nickelodeon when I was a kid, and they had a segment once on voice/accent coaching, and in the segment, they took an Englishman and by telling him how to pronounce a few vowels (I think) differently, they made him sound like he was straight off some plantation in rural Alabama. They said that those two accents are pretty close, but that others are harder to get down. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/49 "2013-06-14T14:17:37Z")
> [@Barking\_Dog](#): > > If I didn’t know better, from watchign Secondhand Lions I wouldn’t have guessed Michael Caine was english. Yeah, but Robert Duvall’s accent was better; he really did sound a whole lot like old Central Texas men actually sound. Caine’s accent was kind of… funky. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/50 "2013-06-14T14:46:05Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Not strictly a southern accent, but Kelly Macdonald as Carla Jean Moss in “No Country for Old Men” spoke enough like my neighbors that I was floored to find out she was Scottish. The one I came to post. She was amazing. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/51 "2013-06-18T01:39:38Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > [List of CSI: Miami characters - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calleigh_Duquesne) > Calleigh Duquesne from CSI Miami, I love her accent. She may have bit of a southern accent but CSI Miami you got alot of Spanish accent too. It is hardly southern TV show , it very mixed. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248/52 "2013-06-18T01:56:48Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Not strictly a southern accent, but Kelly Macdonald as Carla Jean Moss in “No Country for Old Men” spoke enough like my neighbors that I was floored to find out she was Scottish. Oh, that’s a Southern accent, and a very good one. A Texas accent is very much a Southern accent. You can hear that Carla Jean Moss accent in north Georgia and Tennessee, and Alabama, too, not only in Texas. I knew Kelly Macdonald was Scottish, and I was amazed by her spot-on Southern accent. [I give you evidence](http://aschmann.net/AmEng/#LargeMap3Right). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-southern-us-accents-in-movies-and-tv/41248.md?page=2)