Bellatrix's 'French' accent on the Audio tape/cd

[antoshachekhonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 97300

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Ferer" <jferer at y...> wrote:
> The Sergeant Majorette addressed the troops, and in a command voice, said 
> > When we meet Bellatrix in GoF, we are given *no* information about 
> > her background. It's a shock to find out in OoP that she's related to 
> > blonde Narcissa, nonexistent Andromeda and Gryffindor Sirius.
> > 
> > I've never heard either recording, but as I read GoF, I "heard" a 
> > foreign accent. Maybe she's like Kathleen Turner or Madonna (both 
> > American women who have affected bewildering Continental accents.)
> 
> Good point - we didn't know a thing about her when we met her, but
> Dale and Kthleen Hale (the audiobook director) could have made the
> change in  OOP. 
> 
> OTOH, have a little pity for Jim Dale, who did his damndest to give
> characters their own voices and did amazingly well.  He wasn't going
> to resist giving this character something distinctive.
> 
> Given that Bellatrix is such a lunatic, is it possible that Narcissa
> is as well?
> 
> Jim Ferer

I had the same 'huh?' reaction to Bellatrix's accent in the OotP recordings (obviously didn't 
notice it in GoF)--but I agree, Jim Dale does an astonishing job of creating hundreds of 
distinct characters with a relatively limited palette of intonations and British regional 
dialects. As a one-time voice-over actor, I take my hat off to him.

We haven't heard more than a couple of words from Draco's mom, have we? So there's also 
the possibility that, though Narcissa and Bellatrix are Black family cousins, they were born 
in France, or their mother was French.... Or they're just wackos, as Jim suggested.