In older shows, though, and to some extent in second-string productions today, I notice a lot of British actors doing the same weird, hammy accent that I guess must have been taught as “an American accent” in theater classes, or some such place—usually accompanied by swaggering comic-macho mannerisms. Think of the rocket pilot in the old Doctor Who serial “Tomb of the Cybermen”, or the guy who wants a Waldorf salad on Fawlty Towers, or Graham Chapman as the movie mogul who fires everybody. They’re all doing it. I’ve never actually heard an American talk this way, though 1940s newsreel announcers came close.

Speaking of Doctor Who, actually, Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown, the Doctor’s companion for a while in the Eighties, had the worst supposedly American accent I’ve ever heard.

It’s like watching Hugh Laurie in house. You’re always waiting for the joke.

How can Terry Gilliam not do a Yank accent? he’s a Yank!

I agree the Aussies/Kiwis tend to do great American accents. Personally I think you can hear much of the difference between those and also South Africa in the sound of their ‘a’s.

Gilliam was at University of Texas somewhere with an old oppo of mine. And Gilbert Shelton.

I know I can’t really blame Hollywood for not getting accurate all the accents in the world, but it never ceases to be strange hearing Swedes or Dutchmen talk like they grew up speaking something that sounds quite, but not entirely, almost unlike German.

Anyone else hear the same thing, or am I making this up?

also, who saw Paul Walker in Running Scared?? talk about awesome accent. :)

This is how I saw Gabriel Byrne’s character in “Miller’s Crossing”. Sometimes he sounded American, sometimes he sounded Irish, and I never kept track but I think it depended on who he was talking to.