# House, Hugh Laurie, Englishness, Accent **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208 "2008-10-30T03:54:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/61 "2008-10-31T00:38:29Z")
Along these lines, how good is the accent of Jamie Bamber, Apollo in Battlestar Galactica? (I honestly can’t tell. Having a German mom, growing up in Canada, and now living in the US, accents are completely mixed up in my brain.) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/62 "2008-10-31T00:53:42Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I listen to a lot of British radio, and I hear that accent a LOT. There’s some small subset of British actors that think we were all raised on the mean streets of Brooklyn in the 1920s. They must have the lock on radio drama, then. Years ago the BBC World Service aired a play on the last days of Maj. Glenn Miller (who, btw, has been much more of a legend in Britain than in America for many years now). Glenn, a Nebraskan-Coloradan, and his drummer Sergeant Ray McKinley, a Texan, were both played with dese-dem-and-dose New York gangster diction. This despite plenty of surviving recorded speech from both Miller and McKinley. Glenn once wrote an instrumental called _Dese Dem and Dose_, but trust me, you don’t care about 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:** [October 31, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/63 "2008-10-31T01:42:26Z")
> [@rivulus](#): > > Along these lines, how good is the accent of Jamie Bamber, Apollo in Battlestar Galactica? > > (I honestly can’t tell. Having a German mom, growing up in Canada, and now living in the US, accents are completely mixed up in my brain.) In general, it’s very good. I knew he was English before I started watching, so I can’t help but listen for mistakes – I’ve heard him make only a couple of slips (“anything” with a short I sound in the second syllable; “been” with a long E sound, that sort of thing), and sometimes his vowels sound a little New York-esque to me (like when he says “Kara,” the first A sounds oddly flat) – but overall, his accent is convincing to me. He even keeps it steady when he gets emotional, which is impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/64 "2008-10-31T09:06:19Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > Another American – who lived in England for 2 years and watches _House_ every week – who thinks that Hugh Laurie’s accent is perfect. I recently finished watching all 5 seasons of _The Wire_ on DVD, and I wish I could say the same for Dominic West’s accent! It was very good, but there were definitely still moments when I was reminded that he’s British. The episode where he went undercover and had to fake a British accent was pretty funny, though – and even funnier when I realized that my SO didn’t know that West is British. 🙂 How far from Baltimore is “D.C. Area”? My dad grew up in Dundalk, I lived just south of Baltimore for 20-some odd years, and my brother and his family still live in Locust Point (remember the docks in season 2? that’s Locust Point), and I don’t remember hearing anything in McNulty’s voice that made me feel like I wasn’t at home. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/65 "2008-10-31T12:29:07Z")
[John Mahoney](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mahoney) is another English actor who can do 'Mercan. His voice as Martin Crane on Fraiser was excellent. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/66 "2008-10-31T13:10:56Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > [John Mahoney](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mahoney) is another English actor who can do 'Mercan. His voice as Martin Crane on Fraiser was excellent. Does he really count, he has been here for longer than I have been alive. He served in the US army at 18 or 19 I think. He must have been here before that. He starting in acting in the US afterall. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/67 "2008-10-31T13:22:28Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > You’ll probably get a kick out of [this video clip](http://www.hulu.com/watch/21649/house-house---foreign-vs-american-actors#s-p3-st-i1). Some of the other clips are also enjoyable for House fans, but that one is directly on-topic. Thanks for a great link! (did you know that House is my TV boyfriend?) ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/68 "2008-10-31T13:32:02Z")
With the day that’s in it here’s Hugh and Stephen dealing with trick ot treaters [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-u0RQkj3Tic/hqdefault.jpg "Hallowe'en Advice - How to Deal with Trick or Treaters - A Bit of Fry & Laurie - BBC comedy") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u0RQkj3Tic) ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/69 "2008-10-31T14:09:06Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > How far from Baltimore is “D.C. Area”? My dad grew up in Dundalk, I lived just south of Baltimore for 20-some odd years, and my brother and his family still live in Locust Point (remember the docks in season 2? that’s Locust Point), and I don’t remember hearing anything in McNulty’s voice that made me feel like I wasn’t at home. I live about 50 miles from Baltimore, but I grew up in Glen Burnie. I know Locust Point. 🙂 I bought the entire series on DVD and my SO and I watched all of the episodes straight through (i.e., when we were watching TV we were watching _The Wire_), so maybe I was just able to hear the occasional “hmm, not _quite_ right” more easily. In general, though, the Baltimore accents on that show impressed the hell out of me! ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/70 "2008-10-31T15:59:41Z")
Aw cm’on. Hugh Laurie is an American, born and raised. It’s astonishing to me how many of you folks on the other side of the pond claim him as British, considering just how embarrassingly phony his English accents are. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/71 "2008-10-31T16:39:11Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > I remember being very surprised to learn that Vivien Leigh was English. Her Southern accent as Scarlett O’hara was very good. I think she had a dialogue coach, but listen to her singing that little ditty after the night of passion with Rhett..I guess she could talk Southern, but she sang Engligh. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/72 "2008-10-31T17:10:14Z")
I was a little surprised to learn [Damian Lewis](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507073/) is English; his accent is very, very good. In fact, the only English actors I can think of whose American accents don’t sound right to my ears are Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver on _The Riches_. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/73 "2008-10-31T18:12:00Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I have never really watched House. It looks good and I understand it is but I don’t have much time for TV. > > I watched a bit the other day. It’s odd seeing an English guy acting in a US show where his Englishness isn’t a part of it. Normally, you only see English guys playing English characters. Is there some particular backstory to it besides just him being a good actor who got the part on his merit as such? > > Second question, to US ears how good is his US accent? We get a lot of US tv and movies so the accent is very familiar and I like to think that I can pick an obvious applied American accent. To me, Laurie’s rendition is perfect. I don’t think I could tell he wasn’t American born if I didn’t know. How is his accent to native ears? His accent is spot on. I didn’t know who he was before I saw House and when I heard him speak in his normal voice I was shocked. I had NO idea he was faking it. It’s that good. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/74 "2008-10-31T23:12:20Z")
I think Laurie is superb re his accent. It’s not just the accent, it’s the word choice, the emphasis, the pacing of his speech. In contrast, I always thought that there was something about Rachel Griffith’s (6 Feet Under) speech. It didn’t sound natural and turns out she is from Australia. Oddly, I didn’t get that with the guy who plays Chase on House. Rachel seemed to bite off the very last bit of her last syllables somehow. There was a forced air about it. I got used to it, but she didn’t seem American to me until about end of season 2. I think Ozzies, Brits etc do our accents better due to exposure: they’ve seen all our sitcoms and cop shows etc. Not all that many Brit shows come across the Pond (can’t think of an Oz or Kiwi one). They have more exposure–we get the over the top plummy landed gentry or the street smart Cockney and not much else. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2008, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/75 "2008-11-01T12:29:12Z")
eleanorigby writes: \> In contrast, I always thought that there was something about Rachel Griffith’s (6 \> Feet Under) speech. It didn’t sound natural and turns out she is from Australia. \> Oddly, I didn’t get that with the guy who plays Chase on House. Rachel seemed \> to bite off the very last bit of her last syllables somehow. There was a forced air \> about it. I got used to it, but she didn’t seem American to me until about end of \> season 2. Jesse Spencer (who plays Chase on _House_) is an Australian playing an Australian character, so he’s not doing any accent except his natural one. I just looked him up on Wikipedia and discovered an interesting fact. He has two brothers and one sister, and they are all doctors. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/76 "2008-11-01T17:14:21Z")
:smack: I knew that. I was very tired last night–Chase on House does speak with an Aussie accent. Gah. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/77 "2008-11-01T18:30:23Z")
I didn’t catch this when it first aired, but Hugh Laurie was on an [episode of _Friends_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXNd99IhdmA). ---
**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:** [November 1, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/78 "2008-11-01T18:42:02Z")
Princhester writes: \> I watched a bit the other day. It’s odd seeing an English guy acting in a US \> show where his Englishness isn’t a part of it. Normally, you only see English \> guys playing English characters. Is there some particular backstory to it besides \> just him being a good actor who got the part on his merit as such? I don’t think anybody has pointed this out so far, but it’s quite common on American TV and in American movies to have British, Australian, New Zealander, Irish, Canadian, etc. actors playing American characters. It may be more common than having them play characters from their own countries. As I’ve noted in several threads on the SDMB, it seems to me that about twenty years ago the teaching of accents (for English-speaking actors playing English speakers from another country) got a lot better. I don’t know if this means that acting schools or dialect coachs or whoever got more serious about the matter, but it’s quite clear to me. As recently as the 1980’s, the accents in TV and movies were often pretty shaky. At some point actors began to be expected to do accents from other countries well if they wanted to do those roles. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/79 "2008-11-01T18:47:37Z")
Going to that point, a big complaint about the TV mini-series _The Thorn Birds_ is that they had English actors all playing Australians/New Zealanders, with the exception of Bryan Brown. Maybe they thought an American audience couldn’t tell the difference. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/80 "2008-11-01T18:53:30Z")
And _The Thorn Birds_ came out in 1983, so it was before the time when accuracy in accents was required. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208.md?page=5)