I was watching an old episode of Password on YouTube where the "guest stars were Bob Crane and Irene Ryan. It was interesting because I have never heard Ms. Ryan's real voice, just Granny's voice.

She sounded Southern to me, which was interesting since she was born in San Francisco, California, Did a lot of southern people move to California in the late 1800's? I know in the 1930's a lot of people moved to California from Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and a lot of their decendants still sound "country" although they live in Anaheim.

Ryan's accent definitely sounded southern, but the accent of someone with wealth and education. I just found the accent odd since I dont think she ever lived in the Southeast.

I was watching an old episode of Password on YouTube where the "guest stars were Bob Crane and Irene Ryan. It was interesting because I have never heard Ms. Ryan's real voice, just Granny's voice.

She sounded Southern to me, which was interesting since she was born in San Francisco, California, Did a lot of southern people move to California in the late 1800's? I know in the 1930's a lot of people moved to California from Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and a lot of their decendants still sound "country" although they live in Anaheim.

Ryan's accent definitely sounded southern, but the accent of someone with wealth and education. I just found the accent odd since I dont think she ever lived in the Southeast.


According to Wikipedia,Ryan was born in El Paso Texas.It does not say how long she lived there before moving to California

Early years[edit]
Ryan was born Jessie Irene Noblett in El Paso, Texas, [1] the daughter of James Merritt Noblett, an Army sergeant from North Carolina, and Catherine "Katie" McSharry, a native of Ireland. She had one sister, Anna.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Ryan

I think it's quite likely she picked up her speech pattern from her father -especially if they got posted many different places and she had little time to make friends with others in the newer towns.


Ironic that Elly May would wind up living longer than Granny!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0752576/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I got my information about her birth from IMDB. Probably was born in California and moved to Texas. Or her father stayed in the military and they moved from place to place.

She was born to play Granny! :) I'e seen some of her film work from the 1940s and I do not detect a Southern accent. I think Elly and Jethro sounded "southern" but Jed or Granny didn't really sound as though they had an accent except when they would say southern words or phrases.