Where Does That Katharine Hepburn Accent Come From?

Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant have a few things in common; not only were they popular actors during Hollywood's Golden Age, but they both used a way of speaking known as the Mid-Atlantic or Transatlantic accent. Although Hepburn was American and Grant was from England, you wouldn't know it by the way they spoke. By using the Mid-Atlantic accent, the top actors of Hollywood's Golden Age, like Hepburn and Grant, hid the dialect of their natural voice and adopted a fabricated accent that is hard to place.

#accent #hollywood #weirdhistory

[StumpyNubs]

Making a 10-minute video about a specific accent without including a sample of that accent is a bold move.

[josephmassaro]

Legendary black actor, Roscoe Lee Browne, spoke with a Mid-Atlantic accent. When a critic once told him he sounded very "white, " he reportedly responded, "I'm sorry, my family had a white maid."

[skyden]

What do I think? I think it should be noted that one of the greatest villains of all time speaks with a mid-Atlantic accent, that villain being the Sith Lord Darth Vader! Or rather, James Earl Jones, who grew up extremely shy and not very articulate in speaking, learned how to become a better speaker by learning and adopting the mid-Atlantic accent. James Earl Jones' speaking voice is one of the most recognizable mid-Atlantic accented voices of the modern era.

[jackiec]

My 93 y/o grandmother still sounds like this; very posh and proper sounding to me😊❤.

[lesanimaux]

I honestly thought that was how people spoke back then! I'm not from America though. Man, you really learn something new every day

[robbinruffino]

I met Katherine Hepburn’s sister, Margaret, who was a librarian in Canton, CT and I didn’t believe that she was because she didn’t have the accent..she was lovely and there’s a memorial bench at the library for all her years as the librarian.

[Trish]

This was interesting. Last year a British accent coach did a good video on specifically how the accent mimics British and American accents but is also very unique in its pronunciations.

[auapplemac]

Cary Grant was British. His accent although altered to smooth out the rough edges came with his Birth Certificate. Kate Hepburn came from New England with an upper crust accent. At one time what was called the mid-west accent was the road to radio broadcast and news announcers. I'm always amazed when British actors play American roles and do it perfectly.

[Alex-zsgw]

This topic is something that has fascinated me since forever.

Like wigs in the 18th century... Its a man-made phenomenon that died quicker than it lived, yet we will ALWAYS now connotate the wars with this accent!

And that says so much psychologically I can't even think how to put it into words

[JuhiSRK]

Claire Bow may not have been able to make it in "talkies, " but she was a hell of an actress in silent films.

[brickrose]

"Cary Grant being waterboarded in a comic book shop" is perhaps the most welcome phrase I've ever heard 😂😂 well done!

[GummyBearWA]

My mother was taught the MA accent as a child. My father is 100% British and when they first met and he told her to drop the fake accent, and she did.

[RadzKiram]

As someone unfamiliar with old timey flicks, hearing those accents be described without samples is akin to a person born blind being described the sky.

[ladysparkymartin]

Yes Katherine Hepburn’s accent is theatrical Mid Atlantic. But Cary Grant’s is actually a watered down natural British accent. Talkies killed many but then we got beauties later like Audrey Hepburn with her WWII hybrid. Marvelous! 💃

[pamelamays]

Suggestion: The Weird History of the Lassie film and TV franchises.
Fun fact: Rudd Weatherwax, the original owner and trainer of the collies who portrayed Lassie, was the uncle of Ken Weathewax, who portrayed Pugsley Addams on the original The Addams Family TV series.

[ditzygypsy]

“In order to sound good, you’ve gotta sound like you’re from no place.” That made me laugh very loudly. 🤣 But this video topic is oddly timely for me, because I am reading Ava Gardner’s “My Story” right now, and I just got through the part where she talks about the Consent Decree in 1948 and how when she began her contractual career with MGM in 1941, it was already the beginning of the end of the studio system. Thanks for posting this!!

[kevinfitzgerald]

When I started legal practice 35 years ago, one of the partners I worked for had that accent. She was a GMILF before there were such things. I could listen to her all day, and I loved every minute of working for her.

[larrydirtybird]

It was still being taught in the 1990s. When I was at NYU, from 1990 to ‘92, I took acting classes at the Stella Adler Conservatory. Our speech teacher Barbara Colton taught us this accent. We all thought it was so ridiculous because nobody in the English-speaking world speaks that way and only fish live in the Mid Atlantic. I remember her teaching us that “day” in the days of the week should be pronounced “dee”— Mondee, instead of Monday. I remember that day because it was the only day that our class came close to having a revolt. She also told us to use the “liquid u, ” so the “Tues” in Tuesday was pronounced “Tyoos.” Therefore, Tuesday was pronounced “Tyoosdee.” Even though I still think teaching us to talk that way was a complete waste of time, I do still use the liquid u with certain words. 🤣

[btetschner]

I would love the see a resurgence of classic Hollywood, starting with putting the classic films back in the theater!

[richie]

Thank you for answering the question that I’ve always wondered about. 🙏