Roger Moore laments the demise of the Queen's English

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Roger Moore laments the demise of the Queen's English

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Roger Moore says actors who speak properly are now disadvantaged.


Tim Walker
Published: 10:25PM BST 27 Jun 2010
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Roger Moore says actors who speak properly are now disadvantaged Photo: REX
ew, if any, actors speak the Queen's English as beautifully as Sir Roger Moore, but the former James Bond star believes that if he were starting out now in his profession it would prove a handicap rather than a help.

"You have to have a regional dialect to get anywhere these days," says Sir Roger, 82. "Deborah, my daughter, complains she is always being turned down for parts because she is not regional in her speech, which is a great pity.

"I think it is probably the fault of television. You don't hear what we used to call 'West End actors' voices' on series like Holby City, Casualty and The Bill. I notice, too, on the children's programmes they are all talking 'a bit like that,' and that's encouraging the next generation to talk in this so-called 'estuary English' we have now.

"I think it is sad that proper English is disappearing. I don't see why it went out of fashion."

The charming actor was in London to host the launch of Masterpiece London, a collectibles fair at the former Chelsea Barracks which continues until tomorrow. It includes an auction in aid of Unicef, which Sir Roger represents as a special ambassador.

French without tears for George Osborne

Mandrake hears that George Osborne's minders were discreetly trying to keep him as far away as possible from Nicolas Sarkozy at the G20 summit yesterday.

They recall with a shudder Osborne's regrettable reference to the French president's height when he attended a conference hosted by the The Spectator in the Spring.

Ostentatiously removing a stool from behind the lectern at which he was about to speak at the event, Osborne had jested that it was "the Sarkozy box." I disclosed at the time that it resulted in a formal complaint from the French Government.

Whispers my man with the clipboard in Toronto: "All we need now is a picture of the two of them together and a Smart Alec caption like 'Osborne & Little' and we're into another diplomatic incident."
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Re: Roger Moore laments the demise of the Queen's English

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Rog your daughter isn't working because she is awful. If they tell her it is something else they're being kind.
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Re: Roger Moore laments the demise of the Queen's English

Post by mcbride007 »

Most people talk with a US accent in the UK now saying things like "bedder" instead of " better" for example.
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Re: Roger Moore laments the demise of the Queen's English

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Mazer Rackham wrote:Rog your daughter isn't working because she is awful. If they tell her it is something else they're being kind.
I don't recall seeing her in anything, but that was my first thought too. There are plenty of successful younger actors who speak RP, and besides, surely any halfway decent actor or actress should be able to do a range of accents.
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Re: Roger Moore laments the demise of the Queen's English

Post by Mazer Rackham »

Kristatos wrote:
Mazer Rackham wrote:Rog your daughter isn't working because she is awful. If they tell her it is something else they're being kind.
I don't recall seeing her in anything, but that was my first thought too. There are plenty of successful younger actors who speak RP, and besides, surely any halfway decent actor or actress should be able to do a range of accents.
She is in this and that. In DAD she was the "Air Hostess" handing Brozza his drink. Nope, I don't remember her either. There was a gap of years between work after DAD. Roger might not realize he is in fact saying his daughter has no range and this the reason she isn't working. I suspect a bulk of the work she did get was because of his name recognition. Not to be cruel to her but his son is the same way, Daddy's name opens doors for them. Almost a surprise the Cubby's kids and Moore's haven't teamed up.

Most successful Brit, Aussie, American actors have a decent American, English, Irish, Scottish, German, Russian, and so on accents, plenty of Brits come here to conquer the air waves. The days of Antonio Banderas and Sean Connery winning the screen with their natural accents are mostly behind us. For now. It will come back sooner or later.

Roger does has a point about the language he just used the wrong example.
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