20 Questions - Game 207

[Hominidae]

I'll ask a question in case that guess is incorrect.

Did a work this character was in receive at least one Oscar nomination (i.e. before 2005)?

[Hominidae]

FWIW Gordie is a nickname and - while ultimately up to the QM to interpret the question - I think in the past the question about there being an "E" would refer to actual, legal first names and not nicknames. (Real name is Gordon)

I considered this, but did not know the history of this situation. Not sure if I should scratch this or not

I'm also becoming skeptical because QM implied there are multiple movies and/or TV shows.

[cdngooner]

Is it... Gordie LaChance from The Body?

No.

FWIW Gordie is a nickname and - while ultimately up to the QM to interpret the question - I think in the past the question about there being an "E" would refer to actual, legal first names and not nicknames. (Real name is Gordon)

Correct. The question was asked whether the "full first name" contained an "E". A character named "Gordie", whose full first name is Gordon, would not qualify. This is not counted as a question.

Did a work this character was in receive at least one Oscar nomination (i.e. before 2005)?

Yes.

Two questions left. Its a finite list of potential candidates, as you know a film based on this character won an Oscar between 1970 and 2005. But since the Oscar was not for playing that character, its still a pretty big pool. Maybe consider trying to pin down the author in your two remaining questions; I'm surprised no one has asked about that yet.

1,2,7. Fictional human male.
3,4,5,6,9,11,13. First introduced in novel/book, published sometime 1970-1993. The book was not a graphic novel, fantasy, horror, or science fiction; has not been banned in America; and did not win a Pulitzer.
8. Has "E" in their full first name.
10. Main character.
12,14,16,17,18. Character has since been adapted for TV or movie; at least one of which was nominated for Oscar (before 2005); although such Oscar(s) was/were not for the actor playing the character. May also have been nominated for an Emmy; this has not been excluded yet.
15. Character was not in a war, or time of war.

Not: Gordie Lachance (Wattsthematter).

[Hominidae]

This question is kind of boring, but it will help narrow it down. Was at least one Oscar nomination of a work featuring this character before the Oscars that took place in 1990?

[kingofthepirates]

this is quite interesting... narrowing down the oscars does feel logical, but given how it was a nomination, and could've been in any number of categories, I feel as if that's still a pretty wide pool. also, idk if it's just me not looking hard enough, but I haven't been able to find any extensive lists of oscar nominations...

[Wattsthematter]

imdb has lists of every Oscar nomination from every decade. Though I have gone through every list from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s, I haven’t come up with anything. I fear we’re going about this the wrong way

[Aristocrat]

this is quite interesting... narrowing down the oscars does feel logical, but given how it was a nomination, and could've been in any number of categories, I feel as if that's still a pretty wide pool. also, idk if it's just me not looking hard enough, but I haven't been able to find any extensive lists of oscar nominations...

Well, now that we're at 19 we should all use our free guesses anyway before someone asks a 20th (once Hominidae's question is answered).

I would generally agree that since the Oscar nomination can be for anything (except acting), it's going to be difficult to use it to narrow down too much. Unless the character is Donald Knuth level obscure it may almost be easier to backwards engineer the most famous movie characters from a given time period and see if their movies won academy awards.

[kingofthepirates]

imdb has lists of every Oscar nomination from every decade. Though I have gone through every list from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s, I haven’t come up with anything. I fear we’re going about this the wrong way

Thanks for that! I'll try and take another look.

[kingofthepirates]

I'd like to clarify that 'war' question. is that regarding the character's entire life, or just the first book?

[cdngooner]

This question is kind of boring, but it will help narrow it down. Was at least one Oscar nomination of a work featuring this character before the Oscars that took place in 1990?

No.

I'd like to clarify that 'war' question. is that regarding the character's entire life, or just the first book?

As far as I can remember, there is no mention of war anywhere in the character's life, or in the world of the novel. Not counted as question.

One question left. Unless I'm living in a different world from you all, I don't think this character is as obscure as you think. I would bet 33-66% of you have seen this movie. And you've likely heard of the author who wrote the book, and the actor who played him in the movie.

1,2,7. Fictional human male.
3,4,5,6,9,11,13. First introduced in novel/book, published sometime 1970-1993. The book was not a graphic novel, fantasy, horror, or science fiction; has not been banned in America; and did not win a Pulitzer.
8. Has "E" in their full first name.
10. Main character.
12,14,16,17,18,19. Character has since been adapted for TV or movie; at least one of which was nominated for Oscar (1990-2005); although such Oscar(s) was/were not for the actor playing the character. May also have been nominated for an Emmy; this has not been excluded yet.
15. Character was not in a war, or time of war.

Not: Gordie Lachance (Wattsthematter).

[Aristocrat]

Free guess: Andrew “Andy” Dufresne

[kingofthepirates]

Free guess: Andrew “Andy” Dufresne

quick question as to this guess and it's possible implications:
I was under the impression that the being QM chose must have their own wikipedia page (on the definition of being 'well known'). I believe I saw this in a previous game, where such a metric was mentioned. Andy does not have his own page. I'm not sure if that would DQ him as an option or not. Could someone more experienced please clarify this situation?

[Jamiet99uk]

Free guess: Andrew “Andy” Dufresne

quick question as to this guess and it's possible implications:
I was under the impression that the being QM chose must have their own wikipedia page (on the definition of being 'well known'). I believe I saw this in a previous game, where such a metric was mentioned. Andy does not have his own page. I'm not sure if that would DQ him as an option or not. Could someone more experienced please clarify this situation?

You are mistaken sir.

The only rule in this regard is:

7. The question master may choose entities real or fictional that are not horribly obscure, so long as they are not repeats.

[kingofthepirates]

Free guess: Andrew “Andy” Dufresne

quick question as to this guess and it's possible implications:
I was under the impression that the being QM chose must have their own wikipedia page (on the definition of being 'well known'). I believe I saw this in a previous game, where such a metric was mentioned. Andy does not have his own page. I'm not sure if that would DQ him as an option or not. Could someone more experienced please clarify this situation?

You are mistaken sir.

The only rule in this regard is:

7. The question master may choose entities real or fictional that are not horribly obscure, so long as they are not repeats.

hm, i see. probably I am misremembering. thanks for clearing that up!

[Hominidae]

Free guess: Andrew “Andy” Dufresne

quick question as to this guess and it's possible implications:
I was under the impression that the being QM chose must have their own wikipedia page (on the definition of being 'well known'). I believe I saw this in a previous game, where such a metric was mentioned. Andy does not have his own page. I'm not sure if that would DQ him as an option or not. Could someone more experienced please clarify this situation?

I think that's more of a rule of thumb than a hard-and-fast rule. I've pointed out before that it should be a bit relaxed with fictional characters, since Wikipedia usually doesn't have articles on individual characters unless they're really, really well-known.

[cdngooner]

Free guess: Andrew “Andy” Dufresne

No. Not him or Gordie Lachance. This is not a character from a Stephen King novella turned into a movie of a different name.

I was under the impression that the being QM chose must have their own wikipedia page

That's not a rule, just kind of a guideline. If they have their own Wiki page, they are kind of ipso facto famous enough to be a subject. I chose to follow that guideline.

1,2,7. Fictional human male.
3,4,5,6,9,11,13. First introduced in novel/book, published sometime 1970-1993. The book was not a graphic novel, fantasy, horror, or science fiction; has not been banned in America; and did not win a Pulitzer.
8. Has "E" in their full first name.
10. Main character.
12,14,16,17,18,19. Character has since been adapted for TV or movie; at least one of which was nominated for Oscar (1990-2005); although such Oscar(s) was/were not for the actor playing the character. May also have been nominated for an Emmy; this has not been excluded yet.
15. Character was not in a war, or time of war.

Not: Gordie Lachance (Wattsthematter).
Andy Dufresne (Aristocrat).

[Hominidae]

Free guess: Gilbert Grape

[cdngooner]

Not Gilbert Grape.

[Spartaculous]

So, my only read as to how to attack this is to try to find lists of movies nominated for Oscars in the appropriate time period, and then look for ones that were adapted from books I have heard of that meet the criteria (written 1970-1993, not graphic novel/fantasy/horror/science fiction, etc.). I haven't had any success with this, but you are all welcome to browse the lists as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Adapted_Screenplay#1990s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Original_Score#1990s

and so on.

[kingofthepirates]

This is an actually pretty difficult one. So many options..