Dick Van Dyke: I learnt Cockney from Irishman
MY ACCENT WAS BAD BUT IT’S BETTER IN POPPINS SEQUEL
DICK Van Dyke has apologised for his shocking Cockney accent in the Mary Poppins film.
The American screen legend – mocked for years over his bizarre voice in the hit musical – says his speech coach was an Irishman.
And Dick, 91, also blamed co- star Julie Andrews and the allBritish film crew for failing to correct his accent in his role of Bert the chimney sweep in the 1964 classic. But he has promised to make amends in the new sequel Mary Poppins Returns by nailing the British sound.
Dick spoke of his embarrassment as he collected the Britannia Award for Excellence in Television in Los Angeles this week.
Laughing as he picked up the honour, he said: “After 60 years of bad jokes I think I am finally off the hook. I am sorry for that accent.
“But you know at the time it was an all-British crew.
“They all said nothing. I blame Julie Andrews as much as anyone.
“I had one hour with a coach at my house, an Irishman named Pat Mahoney.”
Vowel
Mum Vikki, 30, said she knew something was wrong a month ago when Kia did not get excited when dad Paul, 35, came home from work as a window-fitter in Wyke, Bradford.
Paul woke that night and found Kia covered in a rash, devastating the couple as they knew it was meningitis. Kia’s aunt Donna Gott said: “Vikki has not left her bedside at Leeds General. She feels an immense sense of guilt.”
Fundraisers in Wyke have collected £7,000 on a crowdfunding page for the Gotts, whose other kids are Kayden, eight, and Elsie, four.
The NHS stopped giving the MenC vaccine to 12-week-olds in July last year because of the success of its vaccination programme.
The charity Meningitis Now said that in 2015-16, there was one case of MenC septicaemia recorded in children under one.
It is caused by bacteria found in the throats of one in ten people, normally doing no harm.
Dick’s previous excuse was that “it wasn’t Cockney, it was from a shire in the North of England where people speak like they are from Ohio”.
But the star is convinced he will sound right in Mary Poppins Returns which hits screens next year with Emily Blunt, 34, playing the main role as a magical nanny.
Dick said: “I had a dialectician figuratively and literally handcuffed to me. They will not take any chances.
“I mean he was real rough with me, but he was real good. I got every syllable and vowel.”
The veteran actor plays the son of the original villain Mr Dawes Snr – who he also played in the first version, heavily made up as an old man.
Dick said Emily will be a wonderful Poppins. He added: “I looked up and kept seeing Julie. It was truly eerie, and her performance is something special. Her voice is something else.”
The Hollywood star also revealed the British influence on his comedy roots.
He said: “I have tapes of the Goon Show, Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe. I have tapes of the great John Cleese. I have stolen from every one of them.”