Bristish Actresses with perfect American accent. (1 Viewer)

[Julian Lalor]

Corky (ie Christopher Guest) is from England - he's even a peer in the House of Lords.

 

[Iain Lambert]

Indeed he is. I highly recommend watching the annual state opening of Parliament; playing the 'count the Peers drooling over Mrs. Guest (Jamie Lee Curtis)' game is always good fun.

And Paul, I suspect the reason for not mentioning Meryl Streep is because some people still can't get over her accent in Out Of Africa, which was near the top of the unintentionally hilarious list. 'I had a farm in Ah-fricaaa...' - nice auditioning for Leftfield/Chems sampling though.

 

[Christopher Bosley]

I always thought Kate Winslet's upper-crust

American in "Titanic" was quite good, especially when you compare it to how she actually speaks. Ditto Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe in "L.A. Confidential."

 

[Julian Lalor]

Streep's accent in Out of Africa was Dutch, not English and sounded great to me.

 

[Iain Lambert]

To be fair, I've been told before that Streep's accent is spot on for what its supposed to be. Its just that I for one found it very difficult to keep a straight face. Rather like the way that Pitt's accent in Seven Years In Tibet is probably right, but distracted me anyway.

 

[Paul Mason]

Not to mention his accent in Snatch. Which I'm assured by various people is very accuracte but very specific to a particular ethnic group. To anyone not familiar with that group it sounds like a poor attempt at an Irish accent.
I think it's cases like this that artistic license was invented for. Clarity should win over accuracy IMHO. Unless lack of clarity is the intention in the scene.
There's a similar issue with acting. I often think that good actors are good not necessarily because they accurately impersonate someone going through a particular emotion, but because they successly convey that emotion - which may mean in empirical terms that certain things are actually exaggerated.

 

[Michael Reuben]

the grand-daddy of all bad British accents: Keanu in Bram Stoker's Dracula

Excuse me, but I believe that title is the property of Mr. Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
M.

 

[PhilipG]

Nah, Costner didn't even try. He just used his normal American accent while reading pseudo-medieval English dialogue.
Anyway the grand-daddy of all bad British accents is Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Everyone knows that.

 

[Paul Mason]

Costner's greatest acheivement in that movie was to get from the South coast of England to Nottingham (~200 miles) on foot in a morning.

 

[Iain Lambert]

Its fortunate that he can walk so fast though - he went via Hadrian's Wall to get there, so clearly his navigation skills aren't up to much.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

Anyone care to mention English actors who can't do American accents very well?

As much as I admire him as an actor, Ralph Fiennes' attempts in Quiz Show and Strange Days never sounded quite right to me.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Dan D.]

Let's not forget Christian Bale, he's got accents down pretty well.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Anyone care to mention English actors who can't do American accents very well?

Presuming Scotsmen qualify -- Sean Connery -- Marnie -- Need I say more?

Regards,

 

[Maurice McCone]

what was wrong with Sean Connery's accent in Marnie, afterall, it was the same one he used to play an Irish cop in Untouchables (Oscar) and it was the exactly the same accent he used to play a Spanish nobleman in Highlander.

Poor Sean does a great Scottish accent in every film, on the other hand Sir Richard Attenborough gives up attemting a Scottish accent half way through Jurassic Park 1. I think the problem is when Directors are not familiar with the accents being attempted, or are people just frightened to point failings out to the stars on set.

Oh and don't even start me on Forest Whitaker - one of the worst ever!

Btw - IMHO, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rene Zelwegger make fairly good efforts at Brit accents.