[Clemenza]

Marion Michael Morrison may have been raised in Glendale, but he maintained his Iowa twang via his parents (and the fact that so many folks in Southern CA at the time were from Iowa, particularly in Glendale, Pasadena, etc.). I may be talking out of my culo here, but Gene Hackman has they classic masculine midwestern accent in most of his roles (he's a bit more subdued in real life), hailing from downstate Illinois.

[freedumb2003]

Marion Michael Morrison may have been raised in Glendale, but he maintained his Iowa twang via his parents...

I think that is the true point of the rant -- those individual accents, based on regional accents, are being lost to a high-pitched, slightly nasal whine across the board.