Connie Booth's Accent
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SammyDylan15 — 14 years ago(July 12, 2011 11:00 PM)
I've heard several different opinions from British friends of mine regarding her accent, so I'm always interested in seeing what the majority of people think.
One of my friends said he always thought she was American as well. Another said that she didn't even know Connie was American until she looked it up one day. I personally think her accent is floating between a British and American accent. But I do remember reading somewhere that Connie preferred to take roles in British films/television that required an American accent rather than having to put on a British accent like she did in Fawlty Towers (this was when she was still acting, obviously). I can't remember where I read that, which is frustrating because I always felt they were purposely ambiguous about her accent and that article was proof she was supposed to be British!
Oh well, I think it's safe to say that out of all the accents in the show, the best accent is Manuel's. -
stevelarner — 13 years ago(January 06, 2013 02:37 PM)
I think it's much easier for a British person to sound American than the other way round. I'm not so sure about specific American accents like NY,Louisiana or Texas etc but to sound "homogenous American" isn't too hard.
In the show Connie Booth sounds like an American who has lived in the UK for a while,which she actually was after marrying John Cleese,but still noticeably American.
Brits don't mind someone's accent evolving over time,that's natural. -
warren_houghton — 14 years ago(July 27, 2011 01:11 PM)
She's American (at least originally), but same difference.
Some people can do accents, some better than others, and some just can't. I can do certain ethnic American accents convincingly, but even though I think of myself as a Brit born into an American body, I don't think I could ever learn how to sound convincingly British, at least not without long term total immersion. -
insane-romantic — 14 years ago(September 29, 2011 04:02 AM)
I didn't even know she was American until I saw a documentary on Fawlty Towers and Connie Booth was talking in her original accent - it was so strong I could barely understand her!
However, I was only about 10 when I first saw these and I probably wouldn't have noticed her accent being put on and now I'm just used to that being Polly's voice, so I'm not the best judge! -
chris-2086 — 14 years ago(March 16, 2012 04:13 AM)
.She's not doing an English accent, and she's certainly not doing a Devon accent. Polly is meant to be an American who moved here, I'm sure. She sings a song from Oklahoma, she references Annie Hall.both much bigger in the States than here. And when Cleese mimics her in Basil the Rat he does an American accent.
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TwittingOnTrender — 13 years ago(May 04, 2012 03:37 AM)
I agree with Chris, above. I knew she was American and never thought for a moment she was trying to "do" British (or English, more accurately).
She sounds like what she is (as John Cleese's ex wife) - an American who has lived in the UK and smoothed off their accent a little. Not neccessarily going for the full Brit like Madonna, but just taking some of the edges off it to make it more understandable.
I'm Irish and my wife is a New Yorker, and we both live in the UK! I always pull her up if I hear an English inflection - her most common one is saying "NoTTingham", which I force her to repeat as "Naddinghaaaaaam!"
More seriously, we have both toned down our accents over the years - people just couldn't understand me when I first came over and I was constantly being told to slow down. I wouldn't change my accent for the world, I maybe just made it more understandable.
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