Posted on 07/23/2017 5:42:20 PM PDT by EdnaMode
Dick Van Dyke has apologised for the most atrocious cockney accent in the history of cinema more than half a century after his role in the 1964 Disney classic Mary Poppins.
The US actor played chimney-sweep Bert in the film, and has been the subject of much teasing from fans about his famously off-radar accent.
Van Dyke, 91, was chosen this week by Bafta to receive the Britannia award for excellence in television. Speaking afterwards, he said: I appreciate this opportunity to apologise to the members of Bafta for inflicting on them the most atrocious cockney accent in the history of cinema.
The award will be presented at the 2017 AMD British Academy Britannia awards. Baftas Los Angeles chief executive, Chantal Rickards, said: We look forward to his acceptance speech in whatever accent he chooses on the night. We have no doubt it will be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Van Dyke recently announced that he would be doing a little song and dance number in the Mary Poppins sequel. He will play the part of Mr Dawes Jr, chairman of Fidelity Fiduciary bank, alongside Emily Blunt as the nanny extraordinaire in Mary Poppins Returns.
Van Dyke rose to prominence in films including Bye Bye Birdie, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as his 60s TV sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show. His wide-spanning career has earned him five Emmys, a Tony, a Grammy, the SAG lifetime achievement award and induction into the Television Hall of Fame.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Yup.
That’s funny. :D
I never heard a complaint, either. A tempest in a teapot.
Yeah it was pretty funny how the accent kept coming and going.
Did you know that "Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang was written by Ian Fleming...he of Bond, James Bond fame?
Really slow night...raining...nothing on TV (that I would watch), Nook on the charger...bored, family at church, etc.
Ever have one of them nights?
Oh, wait...just noticed that BBC America is re-running Top Gear...gotta be a good one there somewhere.
Aw, she was looking bad so he could look even better!
You sound like a blast at parties.
If you have Netflix check out “Five Came Back”,a documentary about WWII and how noted Hollywood directors helped out.
VERY good.
.
Here’s me, doing Cockney: “Whale oil beef hooked!” (Say it out loud a few times - it’s fun, LOL!)
I think Dick was just having a laugh at his own expense. I doubt he was really ‘apologizing’ this late in the game.
Brad Pitt in “Inglorious Basterds” had the WORST Tennessee accent I’ve ever heard. One of America’s premier actors couldn’t master that relatively simple speech pattern. Yet he nailed a somewhat southern accent pretty well in “Fury”. Go figure.
It was awful. Ruins the movie for me. But, I find it impossible not to like Dick van Dyke. He always seemed like a good guy.
It seems that every great man has his own Yoko Ono to deal with. “I wanna sing too!! Look at all these people here to watch US perform. I’m ready for MY close up!”
Same here.
Yeah....I detest EVIL people.
Lol! He was Chevy Chase, b4 there was a Chevy Chase.
Unlike most now elderly comics, Dick does not seem deeply depressed and bitter. That’s how both Jonathan Winters and his protege Chevy ended up. That was the appearance.
Exactly. He’s mud in my book.
It was worse than horrible.
Brad Pitt grew up in Springfield, Missouri, which is in the Upland Southern speech area. Surprising he couldn’t do a believable Tennessee accent.
Pretty good.
Thanks.
I won’t take offense at your comment that a Tennessee accent is relatively simple, but I still submit that Southern accents are not that easy to pull off consistently. I have lived in Ga all my life and I can easily tell the difference between true accents from the Georgia towns Savannah, Macon, Atlanta (old monied) and say, Dahlonega. They are all different and none like that affected dialog from Gone in the Wind, at least from the white actors.
But even a Georgia hick like me could tell that DVDs accent was, well, ‘orrible. I got stuck in a pediatric waiting room room with it on recently and I was looking for the gas pipe . . .
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