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Higgins Accent
Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:16 pm
by Higgy_baby
Higgin's fake English accent always worked OK for me, but then again we speak more like Americans here in Canada eh!
I've always wondered how his accent sounds to someone from England.
There are a few members on this site from the UK and possbily some ex Brits living in North America that could comment on how plausible Hillerman's accent is.
Is he convincing?
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:29 pm
by Styles Bitchley
Interesting. I was going to post the same query several times, but never got around to it. So what's the consensus? I know Jay Firestorm is in the UK.
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 1:47 pm
by Jay-Firestorm
Did I hear my name?
His accent is pretty spot on for a an upper class Brit.
Most American TV shows seem to have all Brits either talking very "posh", or exaggeratedly Cockney. Both of which sound extremely fake; a mix of Canadian and Dutch or suchlike!
But John Hillerman's accent is very passable. Not commonly heard, at least not in my walk of life, but he definitely has the accent.
I remember when I was a MPI fan growing up and I found that Hillerman was actually from Texas - I was very surprised.
Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:01 am
by Styles Bitchley
Jay-Firestorm wrote:I remember when I was a MPI fan growing up and I found that Hillerman was actually from Texas - I was very surprised.
Me too! To think Elmo Ziller is probably more like the real Hillerman accent is practically bizarre.
It takes a good actor to make you believe he's someone he's not. But even after knowing that Hillerman's a Texan I find it hard to believe he's not a Brit! Amazing.
Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:35 pm
by lutherhgillis
I firs saw John as Higgins on MPI. I had no prior knowledge of him at the time (early 80s). I thought he was British. I feel like the texas accent is the 'performance' and the British accent is real. I know this is caused by my lack of knowledge in him prior to Magnum. It is similar to an actor being typecast because of his most identifying role.
Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:36 am
by Tralfaz
I think I read that he once received a fan letter from a British Lord saying "You are a credit to the Crown" or something similar
T
Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 4:38 pm
by Lt Tanaka
His English accent is spot on. Amazing how he kept it all the way through the series without ever slipping.
His Irish one though was typical Holloywood "Oirish".....an accent that doesn't actually exist on the island of Ireland by the way.
His Japanese stunk the place up though
The one thing that I remember about JH's accents is the first time I saw Elmo Ziller I though it was a dreadfully cliched version of a Texan accent. I didn't know at the time that was where he was actually from! I don't think I've ever seen him interviewed out of character. I wonder what he sounds like in real life.