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Hugh Laurie's Accent
I am a big fan of Hugh Laurie and I love hearing his natural accent when he does interviews. Would his accent be considered RP? I don't really know very much about accents other than the ones from here in the US, but his sounds lovely and very educated and intelligent.
Thanks!
Yes, it's more or less RP but my accent's sexier because I'm Afrikaans.
Thanks! I'm not sure I've heard someone speak Afrikaans. I would love to hear it!
Hugh Laurie (full name James Hugh Calum Laurie - of Scottish heritage, as his name clearly indicates!) was born in Oxford, England, on 11 June 1959.
In spite of coming from Oxford, he went to uni in Cambridge! - typical Laurie! He actually rowed for Cambridge in the 1980 Cambridge versus Oxford Univesity Boat Race on the Thames from Putney to Mortlake. While at uni he joined the Cambridge Footlights group, and as with John Cleese, the rest his history. Again, as with Cleese, his accent is neutral English English RP - as you would expect with anyone from Oxford! But Laurie is fantastic when it comes to assuming all kinds of accents, and his American accent sounds virtually spot on as far as I'm aware. No doubt Americans themselves may spot some flaws in it! He does a pretty authentic Scots accent, too! So he should with a name like that!
<<But Laurie is fantastic when it comes to assuming all kinds of accents, and his American accent sounds virtually spot on as far as I'm aware. No doubt Americans themselves may spot some flaws in it! He does a pretty authentic Scots accent, too! So he should with a name like that!>>
His American accent is flawless. I would never know that he wasn't American were I not familiar with him. I'm sure that there are a lot of people here (the US) who think House is American.
Exactly right! He is really good at accents. There was an episode of House where he actually had to do an American doing a really bad British accent and it was great! I'm American and until House I had never heard of him and I didn't know he wasn't American until I heard him talk in an interview! But I didn't know what I was missing. Since discovering him in House, I've been introduced to some of his other works. I love Jeeves and Wooster and A Bit of Fry and Laurie! I don't get any channels that they might be on so I got the DVD sets. I've also watched a little of Blackadder but I couldn't really get into it. His book is pretty good also.
I've heard people say his American accent is kind of weird/slightly off in House, M.D. but I can't hear it. I think it's flawless.
Lauries american accent is good, but he is too nasal.
British actors/actresses tend to do that when they try american accents. They also tend to get high pitched. Other than that it is good...
American voice tends to be slightly higher and more nasel then those in Britain.
Skippy,
That is true, but when british actors try to do american accents, you can TELL they are OVER doing it... It seems unnatural a bit... However, in general, Hugh Laurie does a great job...
Hugh Laurie's accent in House is spot-on. Had I not already been familiar with him as an actor, I would never have guessed he isn't a native. Saying his accent is too "nasal" to be American is pretentious in the extreme, especially when you consider that Ben Stein and Fran Drescher are both natives. Wow. Talk about being picky...
Fran Drescher accent is very regional. It would have not been tolerated if the show hadn't been co-produced by her.
British speaking ''American'' sound either 1. Lakers-like (fronted nasal sound of Chicago/Detroit) 2. Valley girl-like (relaxed flat sound of southCali girl) I prefer the 2nd one (Kate Winslett mastered it well) |