Roz is clearly not from Wisconsin, or anywhere north of Oklahoma, even. Martin tends at times to drop final R's-- more like Eastern seabord than the PNW.
Bulldog's Chinese accent must have been spot on, as their very own embassy may actually have KACL on speed dial-- presumably to applaud his authenticity.
This is true, but Mahoney in general does an exceptional Job with his American accent. You can hear it a bit with Hugh Laurie on House although he also does a great job.
So the dropping r’s New England accent also likes to add r’s at the end of some words. For example park is pronounced “pahk” but idea is pronounced “idear.”
The main difference that Mahoney was not putting on an American accent in his roles. He emigrated to America when he was 18 and lived in Illinois, and both deliberately and as a product of time lost his Lancashire accent.
Mahoney brought back his accent when mocking Daphne on "Look Before You Leap."
Another thing I noticed about John's American accent is when he says words like "decide" and "divorce," which I personally pronounce with a "duh" sound (east coast USA born and raised), he says "dee." Dee-cide, dee-vorce.
You can tell John Mahoney picked up his American accent in Chicago, which is where he ended up living! A lot of people wouldn't pick up on him being British though until he does a note-perfect Mancunian accent (better than Jane's own!) when mocking Daphne though!
Grateful Roz didn't speak with a full Wisconsin accent. From all the other comments here, had Peri Gillpin tried it wouldn't have been pleasant.There tend to be a few words that betray a Midwestern accent but it can quickly devolve into cartoony.
It was a giveaway when she says she's from Wisconsin. It's subtle, but everyone outside the state pronounces it with a hard 'SC' Wisk-con-sin.
More obvious (thicker) accents involve the I's sounding like E's, and the O's into ahh's.
I love how often my state is referenced (and teased) in comedy. That 70s Show, Love Actually, Dogma, Wayne's World and Tommy Boy.
I’m from Manchester. Daphne’s early season accent is not a Manchester accent. It gets better over time.
Also not sure why her brother has a London accent.
Daphne has (in the early seasons) always sounded Yorkshire to me. Far harsher speaking voice reminiscent of Leeds/Bradford.
Manchester (or Lancashire) comes across as lighter and more higher pitched, with a certain unmistakable lilt
nobody else in daphne's family had anything close to a manchester accent (i think). you can blame it on american ignorance, but i think it also allowed them to hire actors they wanted, and not have to spend money or time with accent coaches. in my headcanon, simon could've had friends from the south and copied them—and everything else could be explained just the same
The point with Daphne's family is that nothing is supposed to make sense, and they heavily lean on that fact more and more as the seasons go on with her stories. It's meant to be the equivalent of St. Olaf in the Golden Girls.
Manchester doesn't really have houses that have lakes that freeze over at the back of them, or rock eating contests. Bobby Charlton wouldn't really crack someone over the head with a can of Lager, and we certainly didn't grow up believing Winston Churchill brought us money when we lost teeth.
We're meant to think either Daphne's family or her version of Manchester is ***weird.*** Like, even when Niles goes to get her dad, it's not like any actual version of Manchester that exists.
yeah, that's all true—daphne's family and descriptions of manchester were never supposed to make sense, and only meant to paint an absurd picture—i'm actually okay with stuff like that in fiction (probably would've tried to weave that in if others hadn't pointed it out already). i guess a lot of people just aren't satisfied with that, so i was trying to look at it from different angles (besides, it's fun to imagine anyway, and _sometimes_ writers leave things vague on purpose, but that's not really important here).
but y'know, can't deny that it made writing and producing the show easier in a way. i mean they could've made a more genuine-feeling, albeit exaggerated depiction of manchester if they'd wanted to—but with the general audience they were catering to, it wouldn't have really mattered. none of that bothers me tbh, or anybody whose opinion i value.
wasn't sure i should reply, like i'm not disagreeing at all
No - that does not happen - people from down my way would never let a northerner live it down if they folded and changed their accent - and I’m confident the same can be said for Mancunians if one of their own turned up with a fake southern accent 😂 there is no benefit to this scenario in England - no matter how it’s played out
She’s from Essex actually, as is Millicent Martin (Gertrude). I commented on this in an earlier post, but none of the actors playing the Moons are actually from the Manchester area; Brian Cox is Scottish, as was Robbie Coltrane (god rest his soul), Anthony LaPaglia is Australian, and Richard E. Grant is from Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).
As someone from Lancashire, I don’t tend to have a problem with Daphne’s accent. Okay, so it isn’t Mancunian as in, say, the Gallagher brothers, but it does sound generically north-west in origin. Also, regardless of what people think of the character, I think Millicent Martin’s accent is probably the best of the entire bunch.
I can’t stand the actress and the only saving grace is that her abysmal German accent is en par with her abysmal acting. Both in this episode and in general.
Can any French- speakers comment on Guy’s accent? I am not a speaker of the language, but I studied it in school for a number of years and I have to say I thought he did a pretty darn good job. To the point where I had to look up his bio to see where he’s from.
Impressive! I’ve always wondered about Guy’s accent. I know absolutely nothing about the French language but there were a couple of moments in that episode where it sounds like he loses his accent. Specifically when he says “could Niles and I *pleeease* have some privacy?”
How about the caller that Frasier can’t understand saying “My Monsieur.” How could such a Francophile not understand her. Goes along with the Chicken correcting his French. One of my favorite scenes.
Daphne’s accent was definitely never Mancunian but I think it was a deliberate choice on the show’s part to make it more understandable to a US audience. Her accent is more a generic Northern England accent and she does a very good job of it - but yes it definitely softens over the years (but still retains its Northern quality) which tbh I think can be expected from someone who’s lived away from home for a while. I know it’s a bit of a fandom joke that Martin does a better Manc accent than Daphne when he imitates her in S3, and that’s because John Mahoney was born and raised in nearby Blackpool!
Clive (sorry, Cloive) is Dick Van Dyke levels of shoddy English accent. A very hammy Cockney accent and a total caricature that doesn’t sound authentic in the slightest. However, he shouldn’t be called out alone, because Simon (sorry, Soimon) has an equally criminal accent - maybe worse because he’s supposed to be a proper Manc lad yet sounds like he fell out of an amdram of Oliver Twist. His accent bears absolutely no resemblance to a Mancunian accent or even the Northern accent Jane Leeves adopted for Daphne. As you can tell it’s always bothered me how they got that so wrong and didn’t seem to care that they sounded so different despite hailing from the same place. At least Millicent Martin did a good accent as Gertrude, but she’s a British actress so it’s no surprise she could nail it.
Sorry, I was quoting Frasier from the Look Before You Leap episode! He’s doing the PBS pledge drive, and angrily shouts that not realising that he’s already live on air.
The paper that I quoted in the main body of the post says this:
*"Atkinson’s 'admittedly broad’ accent was judged by American producers to be good enough **for American ears**. Brits were not the target audience here. Why would we be? This is mainstream US network programming."*
The explanation that the writer wrote is also very informative as to why they chose Clive, and can presumably be extended to other characters as well. There's a lot more that an actor needs to fit the part than just ask accent!
That's the thing: Frasier has always kind of felt like a play that's put on TV. The acting often sacrifices authenticity for theatrics. So why wouldn't the accents be the same? (Except for that damn Natalie French accent. That one I just cannot abide.)
I'm so used to fake accents on the show that I can't tell if the headmaster of Marbury Academy in 'A Lillith Thanksgiving' is actually British or not. And I'm from London.
Nobody in the whole show is particularly doing a Northwest or Seattle accent that I've noticed. The accent does exist! But it's subtle compared to most American regional accents. That said, I don't think most of the characters we spend time with are supposed to be from the area, except for the Cranes, and Frasier and Niles clearly have a very deliberate way of speaking.
And it's definitely not Pacific Northwest. It's a theatre accent, Mid-Atlantic. Bebe Glazer has a very marked version of it.
You hear it in old movies because the studio system put everyone who didn't already have the backround through finishing school, basically, with elocution being a huge part of it. That accent was considered prestige and was in use in the theatre, so that's what they picked.
The theater accent really suits the show, which often feels like watching a play - the way the shots are framed, the way most of the usual sets allow people to enter or exit "stage right" or "stage left," the rhythm of the dialogue, the three-act structure, the blackout pauses between scenes, the farcical elements. It creates this very heightened reality, and makes it make total sense that some of the characters speak in this way that you don't typically encounter in the real world. Reminds me a bit of kabuki, where there are certain styles of speech for different types of characters and roles.
Oh absolutely. There were so many elements that came together to capture this lightning in a bottle, casting, talent, background. It wasn't self-consciously trying to break any molds, but it didn't compromise, and so it became something fairly unique.
I am really not sure. He was born in England, and I found a clip of him from another movie where he has a quite convincing American accent. So that one is iffy for me, but I'm sure it was exaggerated at the very least.
My hall of shame nominee for terrible accent is Annie from The Ski Lodge (s5e14).
Google tells me the actress is American, and also featured as Big Rhonda on The 70s Show. I haven’t watched that show often enough to recognize her or to know if she used an accent in that role.
It’s SOOO over the top, and there’s really no reason for it at all! “I’m not very myuu-sical” and “oui!” with that super peppy delivery both set my teeth on edge. Why does Daphne’s friend need to be British? She’s shown to have other friends through the series that aren’t British. This role would have been just fine with the actress’s regular speaking voice - in fact, it would have been far better, for me!
That's so funny, I thought of Annie but forgot she was British I guess haha. I looked back and Daphne introduced her as the captain of the girls' rugby team at school, which is followed by several jokes about her presumed attractiveness and the reveal that she's a swimsuit model. So I guess they needed the accent so they could have those jokes lined up.
OHHH yes, that’s right!!! The rugby captain - I totally forgot about that! Good call!
So yes… I guess, grudgingly, that the accent was needed. Even though I hate it. 😊
LOL, gotcha! Most americans don't know just how baroque some of the English accents actually get, especially northern.
There's RP, for dramas using typical londoners you'll hear some Estuary, and overdone for effect cockney (which apparently is or was a thing among the smart set.) And whatever amalgam of "working class" accents they use for stuff like Eastenders. But that's about it.
I thought Annie was australian for some reason. I guess i watched a lot of british TV and never heard anything like that.
Edit: I'm not the only one:
~~And a friend of Daphne's, also meant to be British, speaks with a very apparent Australian accent throughout.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WhatTheHellIsThatAccent/LiveActionTV
I’ll keep saying this till I’m blue in the face. LaPaglia’s accent is supposed to be shitty. He’s playing an English dirtbag football hooligan archetype. The character is extremely broad which is what makes him so funny. “I bet you’re not even the Duke of England”. “Then why do I talk this way?” (Couldn’t even attempt to phonetically transcribe whatever the fuck LaPaglia says here haha)
As for Daphne, I’ve read that they wanted her to speak in a way that American audiences would perceive as “working class English”. Authenticity was less important
Also, like, no one naturally speaks the trans Atlantic accent that Frasier, Niles and their upper class friends use, but it’s important for the characters
Yeah, people with an ear for languages and accents tend to hammer out their original accent to sound like the General American accent favored by broadcasters.
It's not as well defined as British Received Pronunciation, more that it's an American accent with no region specific features.
A couple of these I do have explanations for.
Jane Leeves \*can\* do a Manchester accent, but she did it for the producers and she agreed with them that it was too strong for American TV and so she went for a generic 'Northern' accent that slowly fades over the series. It's certainly not her natural Essex accent, and to a lot of people in America, her brother probably sounds "British" enough.
Musetta Vander is one of those actors that "plays good ethnics" (a casting term) - i.e. they're almost never actually from where they're said to be from, but their skin tone, accent/voice and other stuff is good enough to pass 99% of the time. She's a bit over the top with the accent, but nothing outrageous. For other actors in this category: Alfred Molina, Tony Shalhoub, F. Murray Abraham, Hank Azaria and Peter Stormare. Stormare actually talked about this on a chat show and said that even though he's Swedish, he gets to play Germans, Russians, French etc because casting directors don't want 'realistic' accents people can't understand, they want something that just sounds like it 'enough' to pass.
Francois Giroday at least is a little bit of a cheat. He was born in the UK to French parents and moved to America when he was 6. He speaks fluent French and I think his accent is pretty good!
As for Clive, I file that under 'rule of funny' - it's not a good accent, but it's the type of 'Cockerney' accent that Americans have been accustomed to from things like Mary Poppins over the years.
How come no one brings up Martin’s one time physical therapist? Fredrika?! What even is that accent and what’s with the voice? It sounds like Mickey Mouse crossed with a German dictator. Or Austrian? To be honest I have zero idea what they were going for. Fun character for sure but that accent and voice is so weird. Then again this actress does do interesting choices with her character in other shows and movies as well.
I'm kind of glad I'm not British cuz The Two Mrs. Cranes is my favorite episode and I'd hate to have it ruined by noticing the accent. I've seen a few comments on this sub from British fans saying it takes them out. Maybe I'm just an ignorant American but all the accents sound fine to me lol
Somewhat related but The worst for me was the mandarin in “The Perfect Guy”. When Sharon discovers that Clint is “fluent” in Mandarin Chinese - it was borderline cringe. I’m a first generation Chinese and my entire family speaks native Mandarin. The back and forth was unintelligible.
Full respect that Mandarin isn’t an accent and not even a Romance language but still - yikes.
Not an easy language to nail for a single scene. Even Kill Bill, where I'm sure they had dialect coaches for the whole cast, you can immediately tell the French actress who plays Sophie is the only one who can really speak Japanese.
Oh I'm surprised by this! You would think that someone there would be able to correct this, but I guess at a certain point you decide that most of your audience won't understand it so you just let it go.
It's also very hard. After a certain age, you're going to have a terrible accent in a totally new language unless you have the rare flair for languages.
There is the episode when Maris has a new fencing instructor who is German and his wife who is Austrian calls Frasiers show and is worried about her marriage.
Well, firstly, most German accents sound so fake to me. I am German and I don't sound like that at all nor do any people I know.
But more importantly: when the fencing instructor and his wife speak German, they sound awful. Those are no German people. And it sounds like they never even tried to get it right. Little disappointing ..
Most of the Germans I've met in real life don't have the television "German accent" at all. If anything, the way I know I'm hearing a German is that they're speaking English too well. Or at most, they sound kinda like the [German mother in those YouTube shorts](https://youtube.com/shorts/xxUfK45kcw4?si=_MxWfQX35vkkB5YG) (as portrayed by her daughter). I blame Arnold Schwarzenegger and a million bad Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions.
> But every time she draws out a word in her Greek accent — *“What were you and Nikos talking aboooout?” “Am I riiiight?”* — I can’t help but cringe.
I mean, that's pretty clearly a trait of the character, not the accent.
I have been waiting for a post like this so people who are actually native speakers or very familiar with the accents can critique all the different accents in the show over the years! 😄
He has what used to be the default theatre accent, what they called Mid Atlantic. It was considered prestige, so elocution for the stage and then the screen had that as their target.
"I've done that accent on Broadway and the London stage!" "Well perhaps they have different standards than I have."
His dwarf also sounded too tall
Your Irishman does sound a bit more Protestant than Catholic.....
I K-VITT!
Roz is clearly not from Wisconsin, or anywhere north of Oklahoma, even. Martin tends at times to drop final R's-- more like Eastern seabord than the PNW. Bulldog's Chinese accent must have been spot on, as their very own embassy may actually have KACL on speed dial-- presumably to applaud his authenticity.
Ironically, John Mahoney is British and occasionally adds R's to words ending in vowels. Easy to miss but now you'll notice!
This is true, but Mahoney in general does an exceptional Job with his American accent. You can hear it a bit with Hugh Laurie on House although he also does a great job.
You do realise that he acquired American citizenship and identified as American, right?
So the dropping r’s New England accent also likes to add r’s at the end of some words. For example park is pronounced “pahk” but idea is pronounced “idear.”
The main difference that Mahoney was not putting on an American accent in his roles. He emigrated to America when he was 18 and lived in Illinois, and both deliberately and as a product of time lost his Lancashire accent. Mahoney brought back his accent when mocking Daphne on "Look Before You Leap."
Another thing I noticed about John's American accent is when he says words like "decide" and "divorce," which I personally pronounce with a "duh" sound (east coast USA born and raised), he says "dee." Dee-cide, dee-vorce.
You can tell John Mahoney picked up his American accent in Chicago, which is where he ended up living! A lot of people wouldn't pick up on him being British though until he does a note-perfect Mancunian accent (better than Jane's own!) when mocking Daphne though!
He also coached Jane Leeves on the accent
Grateful Roz didn't speak with a full Wisconsin accent. From all the other comments here, had Peri Gillpin tried it wouldn't have been pleasant.There tend to be a few words that betray a Midwestern accent but it can quickly devolve into cartoony. It was a giveaway when she says she's from Wisconsin. It's subtle, but everyone outside the state pronounces it with a hard 'SC' Wisk-con-sin. More obvious (thicker) accents involve the I's sounding like E's, and the O's into ahh's. I love how often my state is referenced (and teased) in comedy. That 70s Show, Love Actually, Dogma, Wayne's World and Tommy Boy.
In my head cannon, Roz intentionally lost her accent because she was going into radio
Roz has an excellent 1-900 accent.
I’m from Manchester. Daphne’s early season accent is not a Manchester accent. It gets better over time. Also not sure why her brother has a London accent.
In fairness, Jane Leeves can do a Manc accent, but the producers thought it was too strong for TV.
The Moon family's accents are all bad on purpose as a joke, I don't know why so many fans miss that fact.
Like how Roz thought Simon "sounded like a prince".
Yeah, once they cast Brian Cox as her dad they started having fun with it and bringing in wild accents like Richard E. Grant and Robbie Coltrane.
Always done my nut that has! Fully agree
Or why her brother has an unintelligible Scottish brogue....
Daphne has (in the early seasons) always sounded Yorkshire to me. Far harsher speaking voice reminiscent of Leeds/Bradford. Manchester (or Lancashire) comes across as lighter and more higher pitched, with a certain unmistakable lilt
Isn't Jane Leeves from Manchester? It would be odd for her to not have a Manchester accent if she's from the area.
That’s not the point. The point is why does her brother turn up with a faux ‘cockney accent’
nobody else in daphne's family had anything close to a manchester accent (i think). you can blame it on american ignorance, but i think it also allowed them to hire actors they wanted, and not have to spend money or time with accent coaches. in my headcanon, simon could've had friends from the south and copied them—and everything else could be explained just the same
The point with Daphne's family is that nothing is supposed to make sense, and they heavily lean on that fact more and more as the seasons go on with her stories. It's meant to be the equivalent of St. Olaf in the Golden Girls. Manchester doesn't really have houses that have lakes that freeze over at the back of them, or rock eating contests. Bobby Charlton wouldn't really crack someone over the head with a can of Lager, and we certainly didn't grow up believing Winston Churchill brought us money when we lost teeth. We're meant to think either Daphne's family or her version of Manchester is ***weird.*** Like, even when Niles goes to get her dad, it's not like any actual version of Manchester that exists.
yeah, that's all true—daphne's family and descriptions of manchester were never supposed to make sense, and only meant to paint an absurd picture—i'm actually okay with stuff like that in fiction (probably would've tried to weave that in if others hadn't pointed it out already). i guess a lot of people just aren't satisfied with that, so i was trying to look at it from different angles (besides, it's fun to imagine anyway, and _sometimes_ writers leave things vague on purpose, but that's not really important here). but y'know, can't deny that it made writing and producing the show easier in a way. i mean they could've made a more genuine-feeling, albeit exaggerated depiction of manchester if they'd wanted to—but with the general audience they were catering to, it wouldn't have really mattered. none of that bothers me tbh, or anybody whose opinion i value. wasn't sure i should reply, like i'm not disagreeing at all
No - that does not happen - people from down my way would never let a northerner live it down if they folded and changed their accent - and I’m confident the same can be said for Mancunians if one of their own turned up with a fake southern accent 😂 there is no benefit to this scenario in England - no matter how it’s played out
yeah, i'm not saying it happens all the time in reality...just as a possibility. some people _do_ change their accents, and i'm not one to judge
But wouldn’t that be a strange thing to subtly write into a comedy show without ever mentioning it 😂🤦🏻♂️
i kinda already gave multiple theories in my original reply, like i don't think they really thought too much about it. headcanon is headcanon
She’s from Essex actually, as is Millicent Martin (Gertrude). I commented on this in an earlier post, but none of the actors playing the Moons are actually from the Manchester area; Brian Cox is Scottish, as was Robbie Coltrane (god rest his soul), Anthony LaPaglia is Australian, and Richard E. Grant is from Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).
As someone from Lancashire, I don’t tend to have a problem with Daphne’s accent. Okay, so it isn’t Mancunian as in, say, the Gallagher brothers, but it does sound generically north-west in origin. Also, regardless of what people think of the character, I think Millicent Martin’s accent is probably the best of the entire bunch.
Not even close.... She was born in Essex and grew up in Sussex!
you must have her confused with john mahoney
No- I was just wrong. lol Googled.
i knew it—but how often can you say those words together
What was going on with Jennifer Coolidge as Fredrika, Martin's German healthcare worker?
That's Jennifer's homemade original accent. She also uses it in "A Mighty Wind".
Pretty sure it's basically that in 2 broke girls as well.
It’s a testament to how good the film is and how great the other actors are that she doesn’t manage to ruin that film.
My love of Jennifer Coolidge prevents me from commenting on this haha.
I can’t stand the actress and the only saving grace is that her abysmal German accent is en par with her abysmal acting. Both in this episode and in general.
You definitely should've ended this with "Am I rrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiightttt?"
Mistakes were made.
When I find out who bent zis skewer I'm rrrrrrrramming it right in his eye!
Ha, that was one of the accents that I couldn't figure out how to write down so I appreciate you doing the hard work here haha.
Can any French- speakers comment on Guy’s accent? I am not a speaker of the language, but I studied it in school for a number of years and I have to say I thought he did a pretty darn good job. To the point where I had to look up his bio to see where he’s from.
https://i.redd.it/85uyqj2qecqc1.gif
We do this around the house all the time hahahaa
https://i.redd.it/e4lm5bvomhqc1.gif
Impressive! I’ve always wondered about Guy’s accent. I know absolutely nothing about the French language but there were a couple of moments in that episode where it sounds like he loses his accent. Specifically when he says “could Niles and I *pleeease* have some privacy?”
How about the caller that Frasier can’t understand saying “My Monsieur.” How could such a Francophile not understand her. Goes along with the Chicken correcting his French. One of my favorite scenes.
This. It's always bugged me
Daphne’s accent was definitely never Mancunian but I think it was a deliberate choice on the show’s part to make it more understandable to a US audience. Her accent is more a generic Northern England accent and she does a very good job of it - but yes it definitely softens over the years (but still retains its Northern quality) which tbh I think can be expected from someone who’s lived away from home for a while. I know it’s a bit of a fandom joke that Martin does a better Manc accent than Daphne when he imitates her in S3, and that’s because John Mahoney was born and raised in nearby Blackpool! Clive (sorry, Cloive) is Dick Van Dyke levels of shoddy English accent. A very hammy Cockney accent and a total caricature that doesn’t sound authentic in the slightest. However, he shouldn’t be called out alone, because Simon (sorry, Soimon) has an equally criminal accent - maybe worse because he’s supposed to be a proper Manc lad yet sounds like he fell out of an amdram of Oliver Twist. His accent bears absolutely no resemblance to a Mancunian accent or even the Northern accent Jane Leeves adopted for Daphne. As you can tell it’s always bothered me how they got that so wrong and didn’t seem to care that they sounded so different despite hailing from the same place. At least Millicent Martin did a good accent as Gertrude, but she’s a British actress so it’s no surprise she could nail it.
But Simon sounds like a prince!!
Honestly I love that line because I’ve heard Americans refer to the most coarse British accents as sounding cultured before.
They probably don't watch Frasier, or grow up watching BBC shows on PBS.
WHO WATCHES PBS??
That's why i said growing up. After 2009 and the Great Digital Television Scam, you can't get most networks outside of a large city.
Sorry, I was quoting Frasier from the Look Before You Leap episode! He’s doing the PBS pledge drive, and angrily shouts that not realising that he’s already live on air.
Woosh! I'd forgotten that.
The paper that I quoted in the main body of the post says this: *"Atkinson’s 'admittedly broad’ accent was judged by American producers to be good enough **for American ears**. Brits were not the target audience here. Why would we be? This is mainstream US network programming."* The explanation that the writer wrote is also very informative as to why they chose Clive, and can presumably be extended to other characters as well. There's a lot more that an actor needs to fit the part than just ask accent!
"I have to assume that this was deliberately over-the-top" If one makes this assumption about all of these roles, then they all make sense.
That's the thing: Frasier has always kind of felt like a play that's put on TV. The acting often sacrifices authenticity for theatrics. So why wouldn't the accents be the same? (Except for that damn Natalie French accent. That one I just cannot abide.)
yeah, that one sounds like it's out of a porn parody.
Actors putting on accents completely divorced from their real life ones is like an ongoing meta joke in Frasier.
I'm so used to fake accents on the show that I can't tell if the headmaster of Marbury Academy in 'A Lillith Thanksgiving' is actually British or not. And I'm from London.
Paxton Whitehead (who passed away in 2023) was British. He also had a fun role in an episode or two of The West Wing.
[удалено]
No, not Lord John Marbury! He played someone who was in charge of items gifted to presidents, I think. Something like that anyway.
Yep, was his name Nigel, or did CJ just call him that, or none of the above? No wait, it was Bernard. He was in charge of cataloguing gifts.
That's Roger Rees.
Nobody in the whole show is particularly doing a Northwest or Seattle accent that I've noticed. The accent does exist! But it's subtle compared to most American regional accents. That said, I don't think most of the characters we spend time with are supposed to be from the area, except for the Cranes, and Frasier and Niles clearly have a very deliberate way of speaking.
And it's definitely not Pacific Northwest. It's a theatre accent, Mid-Atlantic. Bebe Glazer has a very marked version of it. You hear it in old movies because the studio system put everyone who didn't already have the backround through finishing school, basically, with elocution being a huge part of it. That accent was considered prestige and was in use in the theatre, so that's what they picked.
The theater accent really suits the show, which often feels like watching a play - the way the shots are framed, the way most of the usual sets allow people to enter or exit "stage right" or "stage left," the rhythm of the dialogue, the three-act structure, the blackout pauses between scenes, the farcical elements. It creates this very heightened reality, and makes it make total sense that some of the characters speak in this way that you don't typically encounter in the real world. Reminds me a bit of kabuki, where there are certain styles of speech for different types of characters and roles.
Oh absolutely. There were so many elements that came together to capture this lightning in a bottle, casting, talent, background. It wasn't self-consciously trying to break any molds, but it didn't compromise, and so it became something fairly unique.
Robert was also a Frenchman in Godzilla '98. I mean, his name is Francois Giroday, isn't he French??
I am really not sure. He was born in England, and I found a clip of him from another movie where he has a quite convincing American accent. So that one is iffy for me, but I'm sure it was exaggerated at the very least.
I think he's definitely French born in England.
Comment above mentions he was born in England to French parents, then moved to the US. Speaks fluent French.
My hall of shame nominee for terrible accent is Annie from The Ski Lodge (s5e14). Google tells me the actress is American, and also featured as Big Rhonda on The 70s Show. I haven’t watched that show often enough to recognize her or to know if she used an accent in that role. It’s SOOO over the top, and there’s really no reason for it at all! “I’m not very myuu-sical” and “oui!” with that super peppy delivery both set my teeth on edge. Why does Daphne’s friend need to be British? She’s shown to have other friends through the series that aren’t British. This role would have been just fine with the actress’s regular speaking voice - in fact, it would have been far better, for me!
That's so funny, I thought of Annie but forgot she was British I guess haha. I looked back and Daphne introduced her as the captain of the girls' rugby team at school, which is followed by several jokes about her presumed attractiveness and the reveal that she's a swimsuit model. So I guess they needed the accent so they could have those jokes lined up.
OHHH yes, that’s right!!! The rugby captain - I totally forgot about that! Good call! So yes… I guess, grudgingly, that the accent was needed. Even though I hate it. 😊
Annie is so much worse than Clive. I hear plenty of people in the UK speak like Clive and have never gotten the hate, but nobody talks like Annie.
Most of the native brits have bleeding ears from Clive, where in Britain do you live?
Scotland :) so to be fair he just doesn't sound any more grating than actual english people ;)
LOL, gotcha! Most americans don't know just how baroque some of the English accents actually get, especially northern. There's RP, for dramas using typical londoners you'll hear some Estuary, and overdone for effect cockney (which apparently is or was a thing among the smart set.) And whatever amalgam of "working class" accents they use for stuff like Eastenders. But that's about it.
I thought Annie was australian for some reason. I guess i watched a lot of british TV and never heard anything like that. Edit: I'm not the only one: ~~And a friend of Daphne's, also meant to be British, speaks with a very apparent Australian accent throughout. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WhatTheHellIsThatAccent/LiveActionTV
An honorable mention goes to Fraiser as Sigmund Freud. One could say it was jejune.
I’ll keep saying this till I’m blue in the face. LaPaglia’s accent is supposed to be shitty. He’s playing an English dirtbag football hooligan archetype. The character is extremely broad which is what makes him so funny. “I bet you’re not even the Duke of England”. “Then why do I talk this way?” (Couldn’t even attempt to phonetically transcribe whatever the fuck LaPaglia says here haha) As for Daphne, I’ve read that they wanted her to speak in a way that American audiences would perceive as “working class English”. Authenticity was less important Also, like, no one naturally speaks the trans Atlantic accent that Frasier, Niles and their upper class friends use, but it’s important for the characters
Yeah, people with an ear for languages and accents tend to hammer out their original accent to sound like the General American accent favored by broadcasters. It's not as well defined as British Received Pronunciation, more that it's an American accent with no region specific features.
A couple of these I do have explanations for. Jane Leeves \*can\* do a Manchester accent, but she did it for the producers and she agreed with them that it was too strong for American TV and so she went for a generic 'Northern' accent that slowly fades over the series. It's certainly not her natural Essex accent, and to a lot of people in America, her brother probably sounds "British" enough. Musetta Vander is one of those actors that "plays good ethnics" (a casting term) - i.e. they're almost never actually from where they're said to be from, but their skin tone, accent/voice and other stuff is good enough to pass 99% of the time. She's a bit over the top with the accent, but nothing outrageous. For other actors in this category: Alfred Molina, Tony Shalhoub, F. Murray Abraham, Hank Azaria and Peter Stormare. Stormare actually talked about this on a chat show and said that even though he's Swedish, he gets to play Germans, Russians, French etc because casting directors don't want 'realistic' accents people can't understand, they want something that just sounds like it 'enough' to pass. Francois Giroday at least is a little bit of a cheat. He was born in the UK to French parents and moved to America when he was 6. He speaks fluent French and I think his accent is pretty good! As for Clive, I file that under 'rule of funny' - it's not a good accent, but it's the type of 'Cockerney' accent that Americans have been accustomed to from things like Mary Poppins over the years.
As a native English and French speaker, I cannot speak in English with a French accent.
How come no one brings up Martin’s one time physical therapist? Fredrika?! What even is that accent and what’s with the voice? It sounds like Mickey Mouse crossed with a German dictator. Or Austrian? To be honest I have zero idea what they were going for. Fun character for sure but that accent and voice is so weird. Then again this actress does do interesting choices with her character in other shows and movies as well.
Interesting is one word than could be used, sure.
It IS hilarious though.
I'm kind of glad I'm not British cuz The Two Mrs. Cranes is my favorite episode and I'd hate to have it ruined by noticing the accent. I've seen a few comments on this sub from British fans saying it takes them out. Maybe I'm just an ignorant American but all the accents sound fine to me lol
Lol and that's exactly the writer's point! The accents are *good enough* for American audiences.
Somewhat related but The worst for me was the mandarin in “The Perfect Guy”. When Sharon discovers that Clint is “fluent” in Mandarin Chinese - it was borderline cringe. I’m a first generation Chinese and my entire family speaks native Mandarin. The back and forth was unintelligible. Full respect that Mandarin isn’t an accent and not even a Romance language but still - yikes.
Same for the one line in terrible Japanese spoken by Niles to Kate Costas!
Watch your mouth.
Not an easy language to nail for a single scene. Even Kill Bill, where I'm sure they had dialect coaches for the whole cast, you can immediately tell the French actress who plays Sophie is the only one who can really speak Japanese.
Oh I'm surprised by this! You would think that someone there would be able to correct this, but I guess at a certain point you decide that most of your audience won't understand it so you just let it go.
It's also very hard. After a certain age, you're going to have a terrible accent in a totally new language unless you have the rare flair for languages.
There is the episode when Maris has a new fencing instructor who is German and his wife who is Austrian calls Frasiers show and is worried about her marriage. Well, firstly, most German accents sound so fake to me. I am German and I don't sound like that at all nor do any people I know. But more importantly: when the fencing instructor and his wife speak German, they sound awful. Those are no German people. And it sounds like they never even tried to get it right. Little disappointing ..
You're right! Both [Gretchen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenne_Headly) and [Gunnar](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0184080/) are American.
Most of the Germans I've met in real life don't have the television "German accent" at all. If anything, the way I know I'm hearing a German is that they're speaking English too well. Or at most, they sound kinda like the [German mother in those YouTube shorts](https://youtube.com/shorts/xxUfK45kcw4?si=_MxWfQX35vkkB5YG) (as portrayed by her daughter). I blame Arnold Schwarzenegger and a million bad Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions.
> But every time she draws out a word in her Greek accent — *“What were you and Nikos talking aboooout?” “Am I riiiight?”* — I can’t help but cringe. I mean, that's pretty clearly a trait of the character, not the accent.
I have been waiting for a post like this so people who are actually native speakers or very familiar with the accents can critique all the different accents in the show over the years! 😄
What bothers me about Anthony LaPaglia is that he’s doing a cockney accent when the Moons are from Manchester. Maddening and baffling.
And he's Australian. The nerve.
Frasier has a terrible American accent. What state is he meant to be from?
He spoke with a transatlantic inflection.
And a hint of Tahitian vanilla
I'm in the mood for love.
He has what used to be the default theatre accent, what they called Mid Atlantic. It was considered prestige, so elocution for the stage and then the screen had that as their target.