TVSquad

I think I'm the only person on earth who thinks Laurie's American accent is just awful. I utterly adore him and have for years, but I find his vowels so jarring that I can hardly sit through the show.

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Michael Caine does, however, have one of the finest British accents in film.

But this is all very subjective. You're more surprised by Brits speaking in American accents than Americans speaking in British accents. Isn't that simply because, as an American, you're exposed every day to genuine American accents; making you much better at spotting false American accents than false British accents?

Coming at it from the other side, I'm British and rarely hear accurate British accents from American actors. (Or indeed sometimes British actors: Jane Leeves is British, but her "Manchester" accent in Frasier is just plain odd.)

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Idris Elba from the wire owns this category.

listening to him on the show and in person are two completely different people.

Hugh laurie just sounds wierd.

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As a Brit, I though Laurie's American accent was terrible. It's nice to know you American's think differently.

I am proven wrong.

P.S. Why change his accent at all?

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I too think that Laurie's accent is far from accomplished. It's about 95% right, but that's not enough. It certainly is a whole lot better than the "American" accent he would occasionally sport in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, but that's not really saying much.

And, no, it's not being overly sensitive because I know his origins - Eamonn Walker's portrayal of Kareem Said in Oz never made me doubt that the character was American, even when I knew that the actor was a Brit.

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What about full monty chap in still standing, he does a passable american accent also. As for the other way I always though that Spike in Buffy did a job much better than would be expected of an actor in that show.

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I can't watch "House" because I am so used to Hugh Laurie as that silly sop Bertie Wooster. I agree with those who say his American accent is terrible - it's another reason I can't watch the show.

I will admit - for years of my childhood I thought Dick van Dyke was British, b/c of "Mary Poppins".

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Best Americans speaking British: Alexis Denisof, James Marsters.
Best British speaking American: Hugh Laurie, Bob Hoskins.

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I felt the need to return to this post this morning when I heard a clip from The Island on the radio. Mother of god Ewan McGregor's American accent is dreadful. It's lucky he has a cute smile, I guess.

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Before House, I didn't know of Hugh Laurie. I didn't know he was British until much after the show started. I'm born and raised in the USA and I couldn't tell he wasn't American. He's not going to sound like every American, because as in most countries, we don't sound alike from state to state even, let alone region to region. (And I'm not talking the easy to pick up on accents like Boston or Arkansas, there are more subtle differences). We sound different in Minnesota than Michigan and again different than Pennsylvania.

I also think Jamie Bamber from Battlestar Galactica does a good job too.

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Hi =) I was just surfing around and somehow landed on this blog. I totally agree, Hugh Laurie's American accent is incredible. I was born and raised in the US as well and I actually didn't know that Hugh was British until my friend heard him during an interview. Great post. :D

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Well, Hugh does a better American accent than I can so good for him and House is so engrossing that I find I'm not really noticing his accent which is a testament to how good he is in the role. Having said that, he could do better. As for the full monty chap in still standing, his accent grates on me ALL the time, maybe it's because he it looks so odd him being on an American show when he's a Northern lad. Michael Caine is just a bad actor all round .. Dick Van Dyke's crime was making everyone in England think that Americans were retarded for thinking that's how we spoke lol .. the best accenteer I think is Johnny Depp, I have no idea where he's actually from but he sounds pretty convincing.

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Sorry, worst British accent ever was *not* Dick Van Dyke's. Kevin Costner retired that award with his performance in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." Yikes.

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I am just amazed when I read that some folks in Britian think Hugh Laurie's American accent is bad.

I think most Americans disagree.

He certainly sounds like a Yankee to me. My husband thought I was flat out lying when I said "House" was played a British actor. He even gets that slang right.
With American slang it's not just the words themselves, but the way you say the words; our slang comes with attitude. And he gets it all right.

I suspect the Brits just can't get use to Hugh speaking differently so they think the accent is bad.


Actually, it's quite masterful.

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Blog responders ImReally25 and Kathy are absolutely right! Our country is so diverse in accents, pronounciations, and even word usage, that Mr. Laurie's American accent is 100% acceptable.

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I am an American and I believe Hugh Laurie's American accent is flawless. He does a remarkable job with picking up the American slang. In what I have read so far, alot of the British don't think he is doing such a good job with it. I could not disagree more. In America, we do not all sound alike. The northern states sound entirely different than the southern states and the same goes with the East Coast and West Coast. All you have to do is listen to someone from New York versus someone from North Carolina and you will definately know that we Americans don't all sound alike.

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I'm from the US and I think Laurie is doing a fine job with a "standard American" accent. I have the Season One DVD and I have not seen any episode where I would question Dr. House's origin. That being said, the voice he uses for House is very dark and gravelly - much lower than his regular speaking voice as heard in interviews, and certainly much lower than the one he uses for characters like Bertie Wooster. I think that his choice of tone is very effective and meshes well with his scruffy, unshaved appearance and the doctor/cowboy/loner image House has.

I agree with the other posters that the command of slang is perfect, and there is lots of it on the show. In addition, I think it needs to be said that unless a role requires a specific regional accent, that most American actors and actresses use a standardized form of English, much like broadcasters do. Some have even had to have vocal coaching to reduce their own regional accents to the standard. So I think Laurie does not stand out from the other actors on the show due to any accent problems, even next to the young Australian Jesse Spencer.

In contrast, I find the accent of Jake Weber, the actor playing the husband on "Medium" to be distracting. According to IMDB, he is originally from the UK but has lived in the US for over half his life. So, go figure...

My one and only quibble with Laurie's American accent has to do when he adopts a mocking tone (particularly with the young trio of apprentice doctors), as that sometimes throws off the delivery a bit.

Laurie has mentioned in various interviews how difficult it is to perform with an American accent. Here is a snippet of the text of a recent NY Times article which describes how exacting Laurie is with the accent and his performance:

September 13, 2005
Doctor, Is There a Remedy for These Britishisms?
By NED MARTEL

LOS ANGELES - For Hugh Laurie, speaking American is an issue."ISH-oo or ISS-you?" he recently asked on the set of Fox's hospital mystery series, "House," his costar Robert Sean Leonard said. In the diagnostic suspense series, which has its second-season premiere tonight, Mr. Leonard plays a Watson-like comrade to Mr. Laurie's Sherlock Holmes-esque sleuth physician,and the rehearsals often are interrupted when the British actor utters a wrong diphthong or some such mispronunciation.

"Expletives come pouring out of his mouth, and he's hittinghimself with the cane," Mr. Leonard said. "It drives him nuts."

That kind of exactitude is what Mr. Laurie demands of himself and his character demands of his underlings. Struggling with aforeign accent is not as bad as hobbling around with a perpetual limp, as the Vicodin-popping Dr. Gregory House must. But it's a mild form of handicap that connects Mr. Laurie to Dr. House's
sense of agitation.

"It is the single hardest part of my job; oh, by far!" he said in an interview in Los Angeles. Off the set, he's relaxed, so his Britishisms are in full flower, as when "herbs" get the hard h. But his stubbly face creases just discussing that dialect problem.

"I can't think of any other human activity that doesn't get easier with repetition," he continued, calming himself with a Marlboro Light. "Making omelets, playing violin, sex, anything -
the more you do it, the better you get at it, supposedly - but for this, it doesn't apply. I find that every day is as painful as the last day, which is painful as the first day I did it."

(snip for brevity)

Thus Dr. House can demand more of the able-bodied, denying the blessed their blessings. With special relish, the character needles Dr. Robert Chase, played by a blond heartthrob, Jesse Spencer. It's easy to resent Mr. Spencer, Mr. Leonard explained.
The young Aussie gets to keep his accent, so perhaps that is aclue as to what fuels Mr. Laurie's caustic delivery. "That'scertainly a very reasonable theory," Mr. Shore said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/arts/television/13hous.html?pagewanted=print

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