Millie's Accent

it was written for her. Millie is british in the film but i wud have preffered her to be american

'could she just ditch the accent for this one movie?' I think if that's all you want, we've had proof that she can do accents. Ever seen footage of My Fair Lady? She did a cockney accent then. You don't have to be british to speak the queens english. I think you'll find that there are people who speak like her all over the world.

In the movie, they say she has a big family, but they never specify where she's from. They *might* say she's from the country, but that could easily be the English countryside, as well. Although, I believe in the B'way play she's from KS.

Honestly, as others have said, I like to think Julie's Millie is from KS, too, though, despite the accent. It just makes the film even funnier.

P.S. For those looking for Julie MFL clips, just search "Julie Andrews My Fair Lady" on YouTube and you'll find an abundance of them.

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Despite specifying her hometown in the book, they never do specify where she's from in the movie, although her family lives in various parts of the US.

She may have been afraid to try an American accent after the scathing reviews of Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent in Mary Poppins. It's a shame, since James Fox brings it off perfectly, and even going-on-gaga Bea Lille does just fine.

It always amused me that three of the main actors are British - and their accents definitely reflect that. With James, he's supposed to be rich from Long Island, and with the way he tones down his British accent, it works as faux upper class American.

Bea Lillie is devious and prone to Chinese (Hong Kong?) dealings, so her slightly toned-down British accent works, too.

Only Julie Andrews as "Millie" - who is supposed to be from the midwest seems out of place with her accent.

I always thought it created an obvious disconnect - but, then again, because it's Julie Andrews and her bob (stylishly modified from "The Sound of Music"!) - it didn't ruin anything for me.

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

The one thing I have always noticed but didn't realize its implication until I understood the term is that Millie says "we had tapioca for pudding", not that "we had tapioca pudding" which I always thought it should have been. I'm guessing that Millie is British solely because pudding is the term British use for dessert.

She wasn't supposed to be American in the original movie. I don't believe she has ever tried to lose her British accent, and it's possible she wouldn't have been able to do so. They didn't have good accent coaches in the 1960s.

It's only in the play, written some 40 years later, that they changed the character to an American, and she's from Iowa, I believe, but I'd have to find the script to be sure.

And, the movie was not written for her. Mary Tyler Moore was originally the star, and the story changed when they "brought Julie Andrews aboard". (read the trivia on the Imdb page).