Enjoyable thread isn't it? Celtic Soul, that was mentioned back up the thread a ways.

The first time I was in Maine, I asked some info of a policeman and we spent 15 minutes with him speaking Greek and myself speaking Swahili.......or we may as well have been for all either of us could understand from the other. We ended up writing notes!

In defense of Tom Hanks in "Forrest Gump"..........The character was from Alabama, but also had developmental problems. The voice was quite typical of those with some speech problems and learning disabilities. There was a bit of southern sound to it although in most cases of this kind of thing, any accent is overshadowed by the voice pattern and texture. Working with kids and adults much like his character, I thought he did a fine job.

Artbrooks mentioned Pittsburgh........The average 'Burgher sound is something akin to "Brooklyn meets the Midwest."   Michael Keaton always tickled me in Gung Ho playing a guy from western PA which he is. He had the right sound in his natural voice and he threw in some phrases that I'm sure were not in the script originally. At one point he calls someone a "Jagov" which is 'Burgher for jack-off.

Spaw