Until recently I had only seen the reedited TV movie versions of Young Indy episodes, which were missing the original Old Indy segments. Now, thanks to a friend of mine I was able to see some of the first few episodes, featuring George Hall as old Indy.
I was completely taken aback when Hall opened his mouth and he delivered his lines with a quasi-English accent. This was especially shocking because Harrison Ford's delivery in the movies is about as "standard American" as you can get.
After doing a bit of Internet research I found out some interesting things which relate to the question of the accent.
George Hall was trained as a Broadway actor and had his stage debut in 1946. Up until the 1950's, stage and film actors were trained to speak with an accent dubbed "Mid-Atlantic English," a combination of American vocabulary with Received Pronunciation (aka English English) manner of speaking.
A good example from a more recent film is the opening scene of Star Wars. When Vader captures Leia aboard the Blockade Runner and tries to make her reveal where she hid the Death Star plans, Carrie Fisher delivers her lines in Mid-Atlantic English. It might be worth pointing out that this style of speaking was used to some degree in old serials like Flash Gordon, which had a large impact on Lucas' imagination.
After World War II the dialect was no longer taught to actors, but some theater veterans like Hall still used it. It's not surprising therefore that his Old Indy would have a touch of Mid-Atlantic English.
Hall said in interviews that he made a conscious decision not to emulate Harrison, and I guess that extends to the accent. Still, it does seem rather unlikely that even a 93-year-old Indy would suddenly become posh in his speech, when Harrison played Indy as a very casual, down-to-earth fellow.
I was completely taken aback when Hall opened his mouth and he delivered his lines with a quasi-English accent. This was especially shocking because Harrison Ford's delivery in the movies is about as "standard American" as you can get.
After doing a bit of Internet research I found out some interesting things which relate to the question of the accent.
George Hall was trained as a Broadway actor and had his stage debut in 1946. Up until the 1950's, stage and film actors were trained to speak with an accent dubbed "Mid-Atlantic English," a combination of American vocabulary with Received Pronunciation (aka English English) manner of speaking.
A good example from a more recent film is the opening scene of Star Wars. When Vader captures Leia aboard the Blockade Runner and tries to make her reveal where she hid the Death Star plans, Carrie Fisher delivers her lines in Mid-Atlantic English. It might be worth pointing out that this style of speaking was used to some degree in old serials like Flash Gordon, which had a large impact on Lucas' imagination.
After World War II the dialect was no longer taught to actors, but some theater veterans like Hall still used it. It's not surprising therefore that his Old Indy would have a touch of Mid-Atlantic English.
Hall said in interviews that he made a conscious decision not to emulate Harrison, and I guess that extends to the accent. Still, it does seem rather unlikely that even a 93-year-old Indy would suddenly become posh in his speech, when Harrison played Indy as a very casual, down-to-earth fellow.