Actors' Accents (Was Re: Episode #0258)

Actually, the late Ron Barry was the nephew of Jack Klugman!  And speaking of accents, i'm surprised no one has mentioned two of the most memorable:  Joan Bennett's "Mid-Atlantic" voice that was so prevalent among stage actors before Lee Strasberg changed everything, and David Selby's West Virginia twang, which worried him to no end during his first months on DS as a silent ghost.  He feared that once his character finally got to speak, he would wind up like so many silent actors who couldn't make the transistion to talkies.  Remember the 'Lina Lamont' character from Singin' In The Rain?  That's how it seemed to him.  Fortunately, he needen't have worried: he's been a star ever since.

Thjs post really struck me as, coincidentally, I am just coming off an email group discussion of weirdnesses of English/American and regional differences that segues RIGHT into what you are talking about with the accents.
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Yes, Joan Bennett's accent (like not only many stage actresses, but many early talkies ones like Myrna Loy) was that "stage English" or MidAtlantic.  What my grandmother (who was the one raised me and thus watched DS with me) called being "well spoken".  Funny thing, though, is given the social class and the time she (Elizabeth, and to a lesser extent the other characters she played) was raised in, it might have been more accurate for the character than the Down East accent.  That "refined" accent is what the upperclasses used and what was taught in the colleges and finishing schools.

Same thing goes for Louis Edmonds'  Roger (and Edward).  He too did the upperclass accent one would expect of an upperclass man who was probably schooled at Harvard or Yale.  He did so very well, too, considering that was NOT his native accent.  Never had the pleasure of meeting him, rest his soul, but I gather his real accent was just what you'd expect given his southern roots.

That being said, I agree with those who wish they had kept up the attempts at Maine accents.  For the NON Collins characters that would have worked very well and given it a sense of place, setting, atmosphere, whatever you want to call it.  Would a middle America audience of the 60's found the accents hard to keep up with? Hard to say - I grew up in NYC, where everyone has SOME accent or other -- you get used to understanding different ones early.

And you really do have to sympathize with Selby on the accent thing.  In retrospect, he was TRYING for the Midatlantic stage accent, but only managed to tone down his own accent.  And, from what he said in his book A Better Place he had worked very hard on trying to get rid of the accent when he decided to become an actor.  (Makes sense because actors starting out have enough strikes against them without an accent giving a casting director a preconception about you -- and one more reason to decide not to hire you.)   No reflection on his acting -- some people just can't do accents.  Of course, I personally LIKE his accent...except when he makes me grind my teeth by pronouncing nuclear as nuk u lur. 

I remember quite fondly the episode in which Sarah showed up at the Collinsport Diner and asked for a "cheese wit'..."

You mean she didn't ask for a Philly Cheesesteak?

"Cheese wit'" is the shorthand way of ordering a cheesesteak at Pat's Steaks in South Philly.  It means a cheesesteak with onions.

It's amazing how much work was put into accents for a soap opera back in the '60s when you consider that nowdays, "award winning" (quotes added for sarcasm) actors/actresses in some of Hollywood's big budget features come off with accents that are truly luaghable, sometimes sounding like Boris and Natasha from Bullwinkle. 

It's amazing how some actors have to erase all traces of their native voices.  There's Lara from Tennessee, Louis from Louisiana, David from West Virginia, and even Jonathan had to lose his Canadian accent in England as a RADA student!  And you'd never guess that Joan Bennett was born in New Jersey!  It reminds me of the late Lee Remick, who at the height of her career moved to England upon her second marriage.  After a few years there, she had picked up a definite British accent.  The same thing happened with Gayle Hunnicut, who is from Texas.  Years later she had to re-learn her native accent for a role on Dallas!

If you want a real classic example of the "Mid-Atlantic" accent, watch The Sound Of Music- all of the VonTrapp kids were instructed to speak that way, especially since most of their offscreen voices were as American as can be.  Also, Olivia deHavilland (who turns 90 next month!) also speaks with those pear-shaped tones today- I don't know if it has to do with her British parents (but she was raised in L.A. with sister Joan Fontaine) or diction lessons at Warner Brothers for those Errol Flynn epics, but she certainly sounds more regal than the Queen with her odd Windsor twang (the Hanover influence, perhaps?).

I know we are getting off the topic of Dark Shadows Characters, but you know who really surprised me with an accent is:

Rachel Griffiths (Brenda Chenowith) on HBO's "Six Feet Under."  She is Australian and put on an amazing American accent for the show.  I had NO IDEA she wasn't American until I saw her on a talk show...

By the way - I'm a big Six Feet Under fan!!

It is great fun to peruse a list of the hometowns and states of the Dark Shadows actors.  Sometimes, on the DS episodes, you can detect some of their regional American accents and sometimes, you cannot.

I believe that actor Christopher Pennock hails from Wyoming.  Mr. Pennock never displayed an especially noticeable Western accent that I could detect, observing him as Jeb Hawks and Cyrus Longworth, to name two of his characters.

Of course, Dorothy McGuire, the great leading lady of the American screen, was a beautiful woman with a soft and oh-so-elegant speaking voice.  She certainly never sounded as if she had been born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska (as her fellow Nebraskan, the equally-great Henry Fonda did)!

Incidentally, based on her performance in "The Spiral Staircase," Ms. McGuire would have been a superb Victoria Winters, imho.  And, Ms. McGuire would have also been outstanding as the refined and graceful Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.  (Oh well, what could have been...)    :-

i think most of the copied down east accents are so bad on most shows as well as
boston accents( Murder She  wrote as an example)

jennifer
New Yorkers have an accent BoB no.......(love Law & Order)

New Yorkers have an accent BoB no.......(love Law & Order)

Hell YES, New Yorkers have accents.  Different ones for each borough, as a matter of fact.  People in the Bronx don't sound like people on Statan Island, and no one sounds like the folks in Brooklyn!!!  Just ask Mr. Karlen! 

And any Manhattanite could pick me out as a Long Island girl in three words or less. 

Hell YES, New Yorkers have accents.  Different ones for each borough, as a matter of fact.  People in the Bronx don't sound like people on Statan Island

No kidding!!  I love NY accents!  They are da shit!  And as I'm not from NYC I agree w/you that one can tell the difference between where in the city someone is from.  Long Island accents differ from Manhattan, which differs from Brooklyn etc...I have DS friends who grew up in LI, Manhattan and Brooklyn, and although an outsider like me can know by hearing all 3 of them speak that they are all from NYC, I can tell the difference between their 3 accents.

and no one sounds like the folks in Brooklyn!!!  Just ask Mr. Karlen! 

Brooklyn accents are my FAVORITE domestic (i.e. in the U.S.) accents. 

I'm from NYC- can you guess which borough???

I'm from NYC- can you guess which borough???

Actually Charles, I can't funnily enough.  However, I know you're from the Isle of Staten!    (as revealed in your turn as Charnak the Magnificent).  

It's amazing how much work was put into accents for a soap opera back in the '60s when you consider that nowdays, "award winning" (quotes added for sarcasm) actors/actresses in some of Hollywood's big budget features come off with accents that are truly luaghable, sometimes sounding like Boris and Natasha from Bullwinkle.

Coming in a little late on this, but I had to laugh at your post.  I got an IMMEDIATE flashback to Men in Tights, and Cary Elwes line as Robin Hood that at least HE could speak with an English accent!  Kevin Costner take note.

And then there's my Russian speaking military junkie friend Andre, who could NOT make it through Hunt for Red October because the attempted Russian accent on top of Connery's natural and incurable Scots accent was just TOO much for his ears.

But then to counterbalance, there are the examples like the one JosettesMusicBox mentioned of Rachel Griffiths, and one of my personal favorites, Hugh Laurie.  I remember him very fondly from Black Adder, but he is presently on American TV starring in House -- and does a completely perfect American accent which never wavers.

Oy, that Costner movie- I've always called it Robin of Malibu!!  Why didn't they use Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan or Gary Oldman?  Thank God for Morgan Freeman giving the movie some dignity.  In the old days, some stars could get away without an accent- the most famous example being Ohio's Clark Gable as Charleston rogue Rhett Butler.  But then, Sean Connery can still get away with playing any nationality- his star power outweighs the contstraints of an accent.  His pal Michael Caine used to act in really bad American accents- remember his 'Southern' voice for Hurry Sundown?  But he finally mastered an American accent for The Cider House Rules- and he got an Oscar for his efforts!

Coming in a little late on this, but I had to laugh at your post.  I got an IMMEDIATE flashback to Men in Tights, and Cary Elwes line as Robin Hood that at least HE could speak with an English accent!  Kevin Costner take note.

Very true!  Not only did Costner NOT do any sort of Brit accent, he acted horribly as well.  IMHO, the man only has a few good turns as an actor, one being Field of Dreams.  He wasn't TOO awful in that one.

Hugh Laurie.  I remember him very fondly from Black Adder, but he is presently on American TV starring in House -- and does a completely perfect American accent which never wavers.

No kidding!  I didn't even know he WAS British until I saw him in a movie (Flight of the Phoenix?) where he used his natural accent.

Michael Caine used to act in really bad American accents- remember his 'Southern' voice for Hurry Sundown?  But he finally mastered an American accent for The Cider House Rules- and he got an Oscar for his efforts!

He sounded pretty convincing as an American in Secondhand Lions too.