best brit accent by an american actor

[shugah]

Poll question: best brit accent by an american actor

[WilliamPitt]

1. Kevin Kline mocking John Cleese

in 'A Fish Called Wanda.'

[ForrestGump]

8. Kevin Kline is a MASTER of accents!

He does them all so well. Italian (well, fluent Italian speakers may disagree), New Zealand/Australian ("Fierce Creatures"), and others.

My choices for best British accent, though, would probably be a tie between Michael McKean (David St Hubbins) and Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel) in "This Is Spinal Tap." It was years before I realized that these guys were not British, and I seem to have a fairly good ear for accents. Brilliant, and especially so (this goes double for the use of British colloquialisms not familiar to most Americans) given that most of the dialog was improvised.

I was doubly surprised because it's always seemed to me (perhaps for no reason beyond insularity) that Americans tend to have a harder time duplicating overseas accents than do certain other countries. If there is that tendency, it's probably is just a function of other countries having a more diverse set of cultural inputs (including megadoses of American popular culture) versus the more inward-looking USA.

Oh, and Robin Williams did a great accent as Mrs Doubtfire and nailed a Scottish one (his buddy, Billy Connoley's Scottish one, to be precise!) for the golf section of his recent Broadway show.

[Patriot_Spear]

2. Kevin Klein in "A Fish Called Wanda"

n/t

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

3. where's johnny depp?

he's usually pretty convincing

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. Johnny Depp?

he sure convinced me

<sigh >

[supernova]

11. Johnny Depp

Pretty convincing Irish accent in Chocolat and in From Hell, though Brits say that one is all over the place, but better than most Americans usually do.

:loveya:

[Pert_UK]

13. Johnny Depp does some of the WORST Brit accents EVER!!!

I like him a lot, but his accents SUCK!

From Hell? Good film, good performance, gibberish accent.

I'm not sure what accent he was supposed to be doing in Sleepy Hollow, but it was all over the place - Brit one minute, half-Dutch the next (as far as I could tell).

Seriously.......the man cannot do a Brit accent.

P.

[supernova]

16. Sleepy Hollow is upstate NY

sorry, it's not supposed to be British. Sleepy Hollow is an american tale.

[Pert_UK]

20. Yes. I know. I just thought that his accent was all over the place...

as if he didn't know what it was supposed to sound like so he did a mix of various different ones throughout the film...

Plus, isn't his character from NY,NY anyway, sent to Sleepy Hollow? Or did I dream it?...

[supernova]

17. So Pert, who does a good Brit accent?

I'm curious.

Don't feel bad, I complain about actors over the top southern accents all the time.

[Pert_UK]

21. Good question.....errrrr........Spike from Buffy.....Kevin Klein

But IMHO Tim Roth does a great US accent.

P.

[BurtWorm]

5. Forrest Whitaker in the Crying Game

I knew Joie Davis was a guy, but I really thought Forrest Whittaker was a Brit.

[Kenneth ken]

7. second that

[Ohio Dem]

6. What about Kevin Costner in "Robin Hood?"

Oh, you said British accent.

[Cha]

9. I liked Gwyneth Paltrow in "Sliding Doors"!

[BurtWorm]

10. I was wondering if anyone was going to mention her.

She was very convincing in Emma, I thought. I mean absolutely convincing. She does great hip-hop, too.

[Mikimouse]

12. how about John Hillerman

from Magnum,P.I.?

[ForrestGump]

22. Yeah, he was great

Blew me away when I found out he was from Texas and when I saw him in "Blazing Saddles."

"Oh my GOD, Magnum!"

[supernova]

14. Spike from Buffy/Angel

Spike (James Marsters) does a great and consistent brit accent. I understand he's from LA. :crazy:

[Pert_UK]

15. I've got to admire Pitt's Snatch......

Genuine Gypsy Gibberish......although I'm not sure how Irish it actually was.

Wad, prabber fact?

P.

[hamsterhuey]

18. Conan O'Brien's british accent

Ever see that? Hellloooo govnah!

[BurtWorm]

19. I can't believe no one's mentioned Spinal Tap

Christopher Guest in particular (he's actually an earl or something).

[ForrestGump]

23. I mentioned them! Tap into America!

"We're Spinal Tap from the UK - you must be the USA!!!"