It’s been 60 years since Mary Poppins, and Dick Van Dyke says he still hears criticism of the Cockney accent he used for the role of Bert, the lovable chimney sweep. Van Dyke provided Disney’s 1964 classic with some of its most memorable moments, offering charming comic relief, and getting in on great songs like “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” It all helped Mary Poppins take off to a worldwide box office gross of $107 million, and a place as one of Disney’s most beloved movies.

But Van Dyke’s Mary Poppins performance also featured one of movie history’s most famous bad accents, a fact people still won’t let him forget even after 60 years, though the 98-year-old star doesn’t seem to mind, as he explained in a recent interview, where he also revealed the one group of people who don’t give him grief about his grasp of the Cockney way of speaking. Check out his remarks below (via EW):

“I still get kidded about it. But it didn’t seem to harm anybody’s enjoyment of the movie. But I do get kidded about it. The people who don’t kid me are the British. They never mentioned it — and they’re the ones who should be making fun of me and don’t.”

Van Dyke’s Bad Cockney Accent Is Part Of Mary Poppins’ Charm

A bad movie accent can be very distracting, as in the case of Blood Diamond, where Leonardo DiCaprio’s inconsistent attempt at sounding like a Rhodesian mercenary detracted from an otherwise powerful film. Sometimes a bad accent can be weirdly charming, as is the case with Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Sometimes a movie just absorbs a bad accent, as happens in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, a film that remains entertaining despite Kevin Costner fighting a losing battle with sounding English.

Van Dyke’s Mary Poppins Cockney voice creates an effect closest to Reeves’ terrible British accent in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It’s distracting, but weirdly becomes part of the character’s charm. The film is a family-friendly Disney fantasy anyway, so it barely matters that Van Dyke misses badly in his attempt to sound like an authentic London chimney sweep.

Van Dyke has admitted that he himself was embarrassed by his Mary Poppins accent, but thankfully, he got a second chance to get it right in 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns, where he made a brief cameo appearance, and did a better job sounding Cockney. As Van Dyke himself insists, the British don’t seem to mind his bad accent, and they are the only ones with reason to be offended. Had Van Dyke nailed his Cockney accent, Mary Poppins could scarcely be more charming, and might actually be slightly less endearing.

Source: EW