Connie Booth's Accent
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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.
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher. -
deforest-1 — 11 years ago(August 09, 2014 06:19 AM)
I'm American-born, resettled in New Zealand aged 5 and I can remember trying to sound Kiwi at school so I would fit in and American at home so I wouldn't be ridiculed by my elder sisters for "turning into a Noozealander". In the episode where the doctor (played by Geoffrey?) certifies the death of the guest overnight, and has to cook his own sausages, he calls them "sossages" while Connie Booth calls them "sauce-ages", exaggerating the English accent and taking it to a place the English themselves never do unless they're really up themselves, trying to impress royalty. I can relate to this when I used to, as a kid, say "circum-stahnces" for example, lengthening the "a" instead of plain "circumstances" with a flat vowel sound.
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starvb083 — 11 years ago(December 07, 2014 04:58 PM)
Never mind her accent, what about her figure?? She looked fantastic while trying on Polly's designer dress in the Wedding Party.
John Cleese was so lucky to have been married to Connie Booth in the 1970s - She can talk with any accent she likes as far as I'm concerned!
But yes I do agree with all of the posters who correctly state that Polly was meant to be a young American girl who just happened to have spent some time studying and working in England/Europe, hence her mid-Atlantic accent.
"Stop listening to music made by poofs - Stick on some Elton John". -
jajceboy — 10 years ago(September 24, 2015 04:53 AM)
For me as student of English Polly always sounded very Mid-Atlantic accent, like a mix of both accents. I'm guessing that character was meant to be British but Connie couldn't sound all that British yet, so she slips up sometimes.
The actress is born and raised in U.S but moved to Britain at a young age so there is British features in her accent but American accent is still recognizable.
Kind of similar to how some British actors sounds American when moving to U.S but their English accent is still very much there. -
cind5 — 10 years ago(December 27, 2015 03:52 PM)
Connie Booth does a better British accent than Bruce Boa(Mr. Hamilton in the episode, WALDORF SALAD) does a American accent. That was so painful, it hurt my feelings.
Whom the Gods destroy, they first made mad. -
Animated — 4 years ago(October 19, 2021 10:47 AM)
As a New Zealander, I was surprised to learn Connie Booth is American and Bruce Boa is Canadian. I thought they were English and American, respectively. Having said that, I think Connie's BBC vowels as Polly do sound a bit "off" now and then.