Comments on: Hugh Laurie’s accent

By: PersonFromPorlock

PersonFromPorlock — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 23:34:52 +0000

Not quite a Briton, but I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Sam Neil’s excellent American accent in Jurassic Park.

I haven’t thought about it for years, but I remember back in the ‘70s thinking that BBC actors must have spent weeks listening to recordings of Harry Truman while learning to do American accents.

By: belle le triste

belle le triste — Sat, 31 May 2008 17:47:15 +0000

uk ppl think h.laurie’s accent is poor largely bcz they already know he’s a brit so assume it MUST be poor, i think—they mainly hear it as not-his-real-voice and extrapolate to the badness

neither he nor m. j. baptiste can really do american Rs, esp.towards the ends of words, right (or at least right all the time): the bit when yr winding the word up and not concentrating so much; it often ends just slightly too clipped (cz brits go clipped as part of relaxing?) (probably not in all uk regions tho)

anyway, this is the bit i notice them getting wrong—but it’s pretty tiny, until you start noticing it, then you can’t not

tommy lee jones as an IRA man is worth tracking down

(also haha there was an ELVISH voicecoach for lord of the rings, good work there)

By: Nancy

Nancy — Sat, 31 May 2008 08:29:22 +0000

How dare anyone critisize Hugh Laurie for any thing!! The man is AMAZING!! I was raised in New Jersey and I didn’t know he was British, so it must be a pretty good accent….almost perfect I would say. And he ROCKS in HOUSE
Someone in RADIO judging Hugh….GIVE ME A BREAK!

Also, Lennie James(Hawkins)on JERICHO did a great American accent. He is from Britian as well. From my heart to yours, Lennie.

By: Cala

Cala — Sat, 31 May 2008 03:42:21 +0000

There used to be a lot of British actors doing terrible American accents.

Indeed. One of the Jeeves & Wooster episodes features an American TV producer and it’s just awful. Some attempt at a Texan, I think.

(As a side note, whenever British friends attempt to put on an American accent, they rush straight for Texas and the effect is always just great.)

By: David

David — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:09:31 +0000

I think Costner did a remarkable “tour of England via bad versions of regional accents” performance.

I too like Cary Elwes, where did he go?

Woody Allen doing a bit of “an American unwittingly putting on a ridiculous English accent whilst talking at length to an upper class Brit” in Scoop was pretty funny.

Marmite might work as well as Root Beer.

By: Righteous Bubba

Righteous Bubba — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:19:27 +0000

I spent that entire movie looking at her voice and I didn’t see a thing wrong with it.

By: Cryptic Ned

Cryptic Ned — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:07:59 +0000

I thought Madeleine Stowe’s American accent in Twelve Monkeys was pretty awful. But it turns out that despite that, and the various extra E’s in her name, she’s American. Now I don’t know what was wrong with her voice in that film.

By: Greg Reed

Greg Reed — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:16:05 +0000

Been listening to the Stones “Let it Bleed”, “Sticky Fingers”, “Exile” era. Mick doing his southern bumpkin routine was intensely bad. Though, I think it quite pleased him, as it does me! THAT is comedy!

By: Ornery Brit

Ornery Brit — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:05:26 +0000

A month or two after I moved to the USA I began to feel that people should stop faking their American accents. Really, everyone sounded fake. It’s an in-your-head thing, I guess.

Listening to Cary Grant, would you know he wasn’t American?

Forrest Whittaker in the Crying Game: He had a strange accent but I believed he was British, but with a strange accent, whicht can happen. I found him so compelling as a Brit that I thought his American accent was rubbish in his next movie.

The only valid test of English/American is Root beer. A true Brit will find it disgusting.

Tim Roth was supposed to be doing an American accent in Reservoir Dogs? No way! Surely, he was a British low-life on an extended holiday.

By: barista

barista — Fri, 30 May 2008 07:03:10 +0000

No one can do Australians. Australian actors are pretty good at everyone else’s accent. Says a lot about our place in the world.

By: SCM

SCM — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:28:09 +0000

Mollymooly—not to my ear. But Daniel Craig was in Munich, although it was bit too thickly Afrikaans to be entirely convincing.

By: Jeff R.

Jeff R. — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:28:30 +0000

If they weren’t going only for Standard American, they could have had a much longer and more deserving list. British actors attempting a Texas accent are at least as bad as any American manglings of British dialects…

By: Jacob T. Levy

Jacob T. Levy — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:59:25 +0000

Harry—I know, I know. It’s almost offensive to me that I enjoyed Robin Hood so much—it’s ridiculous and cliched and over the top, and Costner himself is terrible, but the movie is a lot of fun. I think it’s probably the last fun Kevin Costner movie ever. Pre-Robin Hood: Bull Durham, Field of Dreams. Post- Robin Hood: Waterworld, Tin Cup, The Postman, The Bodyguard…

By: Rob G

Rob G — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:28:44 +0000

#38

Also, if you want to see a US actor painfully struggling with an English accent…

have a listen to Robert Duvall as Dr. Watson in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.

By: mollymooly

mollymooly — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:10:29 +0000

I thought Natalie Portman was South African in V.