Meany is right. Throughout the history of American cinema, Irish characters are often played with American accents, and they don’t always do their dialect homework. In the American acting community, a broad all-in-one Irish accent began to emerge, and it was an accent that no one really had. Meany pointed out:
“What we’re talking about here is: there’s a history in American movies of Irish characters having this kind of horrible, horrible, nonexistent accent. ‘Oh, top o’ the marnin’, top o’ the marnin’! Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, oh dear Lard!’ And it’s all sing-song like that, you know. But what I think is responsible for a lot of this is – and he was a great actor – but Barry Fitzgerald did it. And Barry Fitzgerald had a chin like that and he chewed a pipe and talked like that, and so everyone in America thought that’s how the Irish talked.”
Fitzgerald had been working in films since 1920, but his fame exploded in 1944 with his Oscar-winning performance in Leo McCarey’s musical religious drama “Going My Way”. He also appeared in John Wayne’s 1952 film “The Quiet Man,” although he went on to star in 20 films in between, including “Duffy’s Tavern,” “The Naked City,” and “Silver City.” Fitzgerald’s specter seemed to haunt all Irish actors in America, and Meany hated him. He said:
“I remember going to audition for some stuff, and people were saying I didn’t look Irish. And I was like [Barry Fitzgerald impression] “Oh, does that sound Irish? Does that sound Irish? Is that better?”
Meany could have sounded stereotypically Irish if he wanted, but for his career he wanted more.
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