# Worst British / Irish Accents by American Actors **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 17, 2000, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881 "2000-07-17T20:18:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/1 "2000-07-17T20:18:20Z")
I was watching some old Monty Python movie last week and was cringing at how badly Eric Idle and some other Python members were mangling their (seriously) attempted American accents. Out of curiousity, this question is for all the the native ENGLISH (ie British Isles) speakers out there. What is the worst attempted English accent you have seen in a movie where the American actor was trying to be taken _seriously_ as a native Briton or alternatively for the true Hibernians out there, what is the worst Irish accent undertaken in a serious film? FWIW IIRC I remember that many British people said that the actor (I forget his name) on the old TV Detective show “MAGNUM” (small stature with mustache and played ex- British military officer) did the _best_ British accent they had ever hard from an American actor and many British were absolutely convinced he was “one of them”. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/2 "2000-07-17T20:22:44Z")
Can’t answer about Americans doing British accents badly, but the BBC productions that use British actors doing American accents are all laughable. They have this nasal twang that is somewhere between a South Carolina and a Boston accent, that no American would accept as anything recognizable. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/3 "2000-07-17T20:31:39Z")
Dick Van Dyke’s “cockney” in Mary Poppins has to be the most-cringe-making accent I have ever heard. My British friends fall all over themselves laughing when they hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/4 "2000-07-17T20:33:41Z")
I think the hands-down winner has _got_ to be Kevin Costner in his Robin Hood movie. His accent comes and goes (mostly goes) and sucks even when he’s remembering to do it. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/5 "2000-07-17T20:34:28Z")
I second Eve’s motion. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/6 "2000-07-17T20:38:25Z")
What about Sean Connery in “The Untouchables”? He’s playing an _Irish_ cop, but has a _Scottish_ brogue. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/7 "2000-07-17T20:41:22Z")
Grrrrr. Irish brogue, Scottish burr. Know-it-all status safely restored. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/8 "2000-07-17T20:46:15Z")
Costner, hands down, in Robin Hood. with an honorable mention going to Brad Pitt’s Semi Irsih accent in (name escapes me,) the one with Harrison Ford… ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/9 "2000-07-17T20:53:06Z")
Richard Gere’s allegedly Irish accent in _The Jackal_. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/10 "2000-07-17T21:05:38Z")
Keanu Reeves in Dracula: “bogus!” ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/11 "2000-07-17T21:31:08Z")
I must disagree about K C in Robin Hood. I don’t think I EVER heard him speak with any kind of accent, he’s not skilled enough to. He needs to stick to baseball and golfing movies. Worst accent has to be John Travolta in Urban Cowboy. Nothing like a Texan with a New Yawk Twang. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/12 "2000-07-17T21:35:05Z")
**Eve** You win. It’s not just because of the Britsh accent which would be hard enough, it’s becuse he’s trying out a cockney accent. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/13 "2000-07-17T22:09:00Z")
The worst accent ever was when **astro** tried to pronounce “IMHO” and it came out “GQ.” ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/14 "2000-07-17T22:15:09Z")
Touche, Biblio. Touche. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/15 "2000-07-17T22:21:53Z")
I recall almost suffocating a table of Irishmen by saying, “hey, you guys all speak just like Mickey Rourke in _A Prayer For the Dying_!” It took a while to convince them I was joking. ---
**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:** [July 17, 2000, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/16 "2000-07-17T22:22:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mattk \* > Richard Gere’s allegedly Irish accent in _The Jackal_. That was terrible. Kevin Spacey’s recent attempt in _Ordinary Decent Criminal_ was really bad aswell. As to the British accent while Dick Van Dyke was bad what about Hugh Grant’s and Liz Hurley’s 😉 ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/17 "2000-07-17T22:37:49Z")
The Lucky Charms elf has the absolute worst Irish accent ever. Those old Irish Spring “manly, yes - but I like it too” commercials take second place. I actually thought Brad Pitt’s Belfast accent in The Devil’s Own (very different from what you hear in the Republic) was not bad at all. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/18 "2000-07-17T22:45:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\*The worst accent ever was when **astro** tried to pronounce “IMHO” and it came out “GQ.” \*\* Hmmmmm… bad SDMB form! Moi?!(shocked expression coupled with cry of anguish) I’m mortified… worse I’m SDified. I thought this was the very model of modern general question ie… “What is the worst attempted English accent you have seen in a movie where the American actor was trying to be taken _seriously_ as a native Briton or alternatively for the true Hibernians out there, what is the worst Irish accent undertaken in a serious film?” I’m still not clear where I erred… will re-read board message question categories. ---
**Author:** ![Bucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Bucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bucky)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/19 "2000-07-17T22:59:47Z")
I must agree with Eve (big surprise, eh?). Dick Van Dyke’s “cockney” is mortifyingly painful. I’m in the camp that says that Costner didn’t even try to do a dialect. Besides, Xian Slater is so much worse in that film that Costner’s flaws almost go away. Frankly, my British friends and I agree that the guy in Magnum is over-rated. Bridget Fonda in “Scandal” is pretty horrible. Anyone on “Love Boat” doing any accent or dialect is amazingly awful. BTW, I don’t think that the Pythons were doing “serious” attempts at sounding American. Bucky ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2000, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881/20 "2000-07-18T00:17:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\* > I’m still not clear where I erred… will re-read board message question categories. > > \*\* Generally, if you are seeking opinions, IMHO is the place to go, even if the opinions are likely to be nearly unanimous. A question such as this could _only_ be answered with opinions, unless there is a Bad British Accents Working Group of which I am unaware. Off to IMHO. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-british-irish-accents-by-american-actors/25881.md?page=2)