What accents are upper class?

Question

I'm doing a play and every person in my scene has an accent. My character is "upper-class" and I need an accent to reflect that... so I was wondering what kind of accents reflect the upper crust and where I can learn the phonetics for it. Also, the play takes place in Hollywood right when talking pictures come out (if that helps).

Answer 1

the English accent sounds posh.

Answer 2

You need a Hampton Court Accent. An excellent resource on this would be the movie "My Fair Lady". In this movie, a readaptation of the Shaw play Pygmallion, Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) , a reknowned phonetics Professor and academic scholar trains young Liza DooLittle (Audrey Hepburn) how to be a lady that blends in with the British Elite, through the overhauling of her cockney accent.

If you don't have the time or inclination to do this, then remember these things.

1. Round out your o's.
2. Enunciate your Wh's (What = Hu - waaugght)
3. Don't roll your Rs. (Rs = Ahhhs...)
4. Control your inflection. (Don't be a valley girl and don't put too much emotion in your sentences. If you do, be as fake as possible, not American fake, British Fake.)
5. Watch Julie Andrews' Mary Poppins on You Tube.

Answer 3

An Eastern American accent is often thought of as upper class, the accent of President Kennedy.
Standard British dialect is also considered upper class. It is also called Received Pronunciation, Southern British or Stage Dialect, listen to Katherine Hepburn. Watch her movie The Philadelphia Story.

Get a copy of Jerry Blunt's "Stage Dialects" if you can read phonetics, it is the best dialect guide ever.

Answer 4

An English accent or a French accent is usually what I think of when I think of upper class.

Answer 5

You don't need an accent , just pronounce every word , making sure you sound the end of words.