"Who does the worst imitation foreign accents?" Topic

I am continually amazed by how well British actors "do" Americans in movies and on TV. I find myself asking incredulously "He's BRITISH???"

However…
I think Americans trying to do British are absoulutely awful. The pits are nerdy Monty Python Reenactors. They sound like they are strangling themselves trying to wrap those accents around their throats. THEY NEVER SHUT UP! THEY HAVE TO DO THE WHOLE DAMN SKIT!
The Brits have still not forgiven us for Dick van Dyke, I'm afraid.

Doing French is easy though. All you have to do is say "ze" instad of "the" and say "Haw haw haw" in the back of your throat. Or, so we think…

Sean Connery.

Steve Martin

Me. I'm horrible at it. I can do a pervy german OK, though.

Quoting python is verboten amongst the people I game with – for that exact reason. Once it starts, it never stops.

I always think it is weird to hear Hugh Laurie with an american accent.

Craig Ferguson's Scottish accent is starting to sound a little odd, and it isn't even an imitation.

Me

Marlon Brando as Lt. Christian Diestl in the Young Lions:

imdb.com/title/tt0052415

His acting was up to his usual high standards but the accent I found distracting.

The British tend to be actors whereas Americans are mostly movie stars. The difference being the former know how to act in a variety of ways, particularly with the voice and the latter know how to look good for a take in front of a camera.

There are Americans who can act, Meryl Streep did very good British accents in 'Plenty' and 'The Iron Lady'. Generally if an American got his chops on the stage as most British actors do they can act pretty well, the stage requires a voice. I've heard some really awful imitation American accents done by British movie stars, Connery has been mentioned.

Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

And I have heard some aweful fake German (or what the people seemed to beleave were Nazi accents) when I was in the US for Historicon.

Nicholas Cage (Captain Corelli's Mandolin)

He should be banned from visiting Italy for all time for his accent

foreigners :)

> The British tend to be actors whereas Americans are mostly movie stars

It doesn't hurt that a lot of British Actors dream of coming to Hollywood to make it big either…

As for who does the worst Brit accent from the US, it's hard to tell, I can't get all the Brit accents from the movie "Enemy at the Gates" (yes, yes, they were supposed to be Russians – but listen to those accents starting with the kid who sounds like who sounds like he should be acting in Oliver Twist)

Nicholas Cage (Captain Corelli's Mandolin)

He should be banned from visiting Italy for all time for his accent

And he's Italian American!

The state of Arkansas.

One thing I found especially funny was Dominic West in The Wire doing a Baltimore Cop doing a 'British' accent in the episode in series 2 when he had to infiltrate the brothel. Brilliant.

You can tell he went to drama school (and Eton!):)

On the good side for Americans, James Marsters did a brilliant British accent as Spike on Buffy.

And Wakko Warner does a bang-up Scouse!

On the bad side, Kevin Costner should only be allowed to play Midwestern American Guys.

C. Thomas Howell in Gettysburg. Don't get me started.

On the bad side, Kevin Costner should only be allowed to play Midwestern American Guys.

Well, yeah. Wasn't Robin Hood one of those Midwestern American Guys?

John Wayne almost doing an German accent in the Sea Chase.

"Auf weeder-zain Australia..", yes the "W" was not pronounced like a "V".

My English is passable. I only do profane really well.

John Wayne as Genghis Khan.

….Johnny Depp

…Brad Pitt

but the best is probably mike Myers

Funnily enough, I was just talking about this the other day.

The worst offences of British accent crime on record, IMHO:

Ireland: Tommy Lee Jones is guilty of the worst single offence of Irish accent-crime ever committed. His hammy, full-on "oirish" gurning in 'Blown Away' was just jaw-dropping.

English: Worst English accent is Don Cheadle in 'Ocean's 13'. Just pitiful, and he knows it. He actually did a lot of voice coaching for the role, but he says everybody – without exception – tells him how bad it was.

(Costner doesn't count – he didn't even attempt the accent.
Bad accent threads frequently cite Forrest Whittaker in 'The Crying Game' and Denzel Washington in 'For Queen & Country', compelety missing the point: both those characters were from the West Indies.)

Welsh: Bill Nighy in whichever Harry Potter one it was. He's obviously practised hard on a few key vowel sounds, and decided that'll do.
A bit like doing a 'German' accent by speaking in your normal voice, but replacing the 'w's with 'v's.

Scots: Christophe Lambert in 'Highlander'. It's hypnotically bad. It's not so much his 'Scottish' accent per se, it's just that however hard he tries, whatever he happens to be saying… he can't stop his French accent showing through! It adds a whole other layer of vocal wierdness.

The OIrish accents in Alexander were dreadful. Somehow even Collin Farrell had a fake Oirish accent.

Christophe Lambert in 'Highlander'.

Yesterday my daughter and I were discussing the irony of Christopher Lambert's poor scots burr in the proximity of Sean Connery.

I have to disagree with the OP. Sometimes British actors do American accents well, sometimes not. Sometimes British actors do a poorer job at other local British accents than American actors. It depends. Also, the annoying thing about MP fanboys is just that they won't shut up, not the horrible accents. Several MP members have lamented in interviews that too many Americans think that the silly voices they did in some skits were actual British accents.

Oh, yeah … the actual question. The Governator.

Keanu Reeves as the Buddha in Little Buddha

It always amuses me when Americans try to correct my English.

And it always amuses me when Kiwis claim they speak English… ;)

Hoser (Canadian, former Northern Irish)

Keanu Reeves doing a human accent. Sorry, I'm just not buying it.

Most people doing a "Texas" accent when there are at least 5…kind of like the generic "British" or "American" accent. I just hurts my ears.

I have to disagree with the OP. Sometimes British actors do American accents well, sometimes not.

It just seems to me that the entire cast of Band of Brothers or Blackhawk Down are British.
Wazzupwiddat?

All good nominations. The winner.
Nicholas Cage – Corelli's Mandolin

Sometimes British actors do a poorer job at other local British accents than American actors.

I was just thinking about this recently when watching a British TV series set in Manchester. You could tell who was really from The North and who wasn't. The non-Northerners had the vowels and consonants down, but they didn't have the right rhythms, nor the proper pitch or stress. Still miles better than the bulk of American actors could do, but it was striking listening to the juxtaposition of "native speakers" and "advanced learners".

Madonna

Does Leonardo Di Caprio trying to do a Wisconsin accent in Titanic count?

Still miles better than the bulk of American actors could do, but it was striking listening to the juxtaposition of "native speakers" and "advanced learners".

Don't doubt that. I would just say that the bulk of all actors don't spend loads of time agonizing over diction the way, say, a linguist would. So you end up with "close enoughs" where the closer you physically are to an accent (the more routine exposure you have with it), the better you do it. Personally, having grown up across the river from it, I always snicker in movies when someone is trying to do one of the various West Virginia accents.

American English also has a bit of an advantage in terms of non-Americans speaking it. Specifically, the Midwest (Ohio-Indiana) "non-accent" is the most understandable accent across English speakers.

It just seems to me that the entire cast of Band of Brothers or Blackhawk Down are British.
Wazzupwiddat?

Haven't seen the movies. They're probably just better actors overall, so they get hired. :) Seriously, the US has an astronomic volume of poor quality media, so it might actually be easier to find good British actors.

It just seems to me that the entire cast of Band of Brothers or Blackhawk Down are British.
Wazzupwiddat?

The killer was Simon Pegg as the unlikable Staff Sergeant. One thing I heard was that the directors felt Modern Brits 'behave' more like 40's Americans than Modern Americans do.

Pat

I spent a week in Brindisi, and never heard anybody talk like Chico Marx.
Grelber

This, I am sure, is meaningless to most of you guys, but I remember watching the movie Under Fire (Nick Nolte, Gene Hackman, etc) and all of the Nicaraguans are played by Mexicans using their own native accents and expressions. It's very noticeable. It's like seeing a bunch of New Yorkers playing Mississippians or visa versa. That actually occurs in a lot of movies.

Altius's "New Yorkers playing Mississippians" example reminded me of Alex Kingston in the dreadful tv-movie 'Boudica'.
(US title: 'Warrior Queen'.)

Kingston played Boudica with a modern-day East Anglian accent.

A US equivalent would be to portray Delaware Indians with a modern Bronx accent, because, hey, dey lives in Noo Yawk, amirite?

Norman,

And that, in turn reminds me of another classic bad accent. See if you can guess who I am now.

Ahem….

"Dis is duh palace ah my fadda, an' yonda lies duh Valley ah duh Sun."

Tony Curtis. A classic bad accent.

Strangely enough, I was going for nationalities, rather than specific people in my OP, but this is more fun.

"If you do not have anything nice to say about people, come and sit by me."
--Alice Roosevelt Lomngworth

I do…

Exchange b/t Tom Cruise and an annoying reporter at 'Far and Away' launch press conference:

CRUISE:: Which paper are you from.

REPORTER (in very English voice): The Dublin Times.

CRUISE: Funny, you don't sound Irish.

REPORTER: That makes two of us, because neither did you.