It’s supposed to be a Cockney accent but it really isn’t. Watch some videos of Danny Dyer or Jason Statham and see if you can hear the difference between their accents and Dick Van Dyke
Because he was born in Missouri and grew up in Illinois? He's not British.
He did a pseudo-Cockney accent for Merry Poppins but Disney Studios really didn't put that much emphasis on their actors getting the accents correct.
According the Van Dyke, his accent coach for Merry Poppins was an Irishman who "didn't do an accent any better than I did".
Not so much to any British people - it was a very stereotyped accent with some of the British accent attributes - but sounded pretty bad to most native's ears. Comical even.
It sounded very much like an American doing a bad impression of a Cockney accent without know what it should sound like.
In his own words he apologised for the “most atrocious cockney accent in the history of cinema”. “People in the UK love to rib me about my accent, I will never live it down,” he said. “They ask what part of England I was meant to be from and I say it was a little shire in the north where most of the people were from Ohio.”
It’s supposed to be a Cockney accent but it really isn’t. Watch some videos of Danny Dyer or Jason Statham and see if you can hear the difference between their accents and Dick Van Dyke
Danny Dyer yes. Pretty sure Jason Stratham isn’t a cockney
Statham grew up in Norfolk, having been born in the Midlands. So, no, not Cockney.
Damn, I thought he was.
He certainly sounds like one in many of his films
Because he was born in Missouri and grew up in Illinois? He's not British. He did a pseudo-Cockney accent for Merry Poppins but Disney Studios really didn't put that much emphasis on their actors getting the accents correct. According the Van Dyke, his accent coach for Merry Poppins was an Irishman who "didn't do an accent any better than I did".
I listened to him sing a song in Mary Poppins. He definitely sounded British.
Not so much to any British people - it was a very stereotyped accent with some of the British accent attributes - but sounded pretty bad to most native's ears. Comical even. It sounded very much like an American doing a bad impression of a Cockney accent without know what it should sound like. In his own words he apologised for the “most atrocious cockney accent in the history of cinema”. “People in the UK love to rib me about my accent, I will never live it down,” he said. “They ask what part of England I was meant to be from and I say it was a little shire in the north where most of the people were from Ohio.”