Twenty questions, round 356: five-way frenzy!

[Spartaculous]

E: Born after 1955?

No.

[DreamTrawler]

E: Born in US state that borders Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, or the Atlantic Ocean?

[Spartaculous]

E: Born in US state that borders Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, or the Atlantic Ocean?

No.

[DreamTrawler]

E: Born east of the Mississippi River?

[Spartaculous]

E: Born east of the Mississippi River?

Yes.

[DreamTrawler]

Person E:

1. Real male human being.
2,15. Born 1955 or earlier
3. Alive.
5. Not a winner of: a Pulitzer Prize, a Nobel Prize, or an Academy Award.
6,7,8,10: Primarily known for acting.
9,14. Is an English-language actor, but has also been a musician in the past.
11,16,17. Born in the USA east of the Mississippi River, in one of the following states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Vermont (and maybe Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama depending on what counts as the Atlantic)
12,13. Not primarily known for comedic roles or sci-fi, fantasy, or horror roles

(Multiball theme - must have a single letter as part of their name i.e. U Thant or Malcolm X. The theme may also be that the letter is not an initial)

NOT:
Samuel L. Jackson (Wattsthematter)
Michael J Fox (DreamTrawler)
Ice T (cdngooner)

[Wattsthematter]

Did this person have the famous quote: “I pity the fool?”

[Spartaculous]

Did this person have the famous quote: “I pity the fool?”

Yes he did...

I'll let you go ahead and make the final guess.

[Wattsthematter]

Could be anyone

But I’ll guess that E is Mr T

[Spartaculous]

Could be anyone

But I’ll guess that E is Mr T

And that finishes it off! Well done.

[Spartaculous]

Final scoreboard:
DreamTrawler: 3
cdngooner: 1
Wattsthematter: 1

DreamTrawler is the winner of the round!

[DreamTrawler]

Great round, Spartaculous! Full transparency - I was able to figure out the theme so fast because I actually had the same exact idea for a multiball round for figures with letters as names. Great minds and all that I suppose. U Thant and Malcolm X are the only ones that overlapped between my idea and yours though.

Also, if we arrange the letters we get: TV SUX

[Spartaculous]

Comments:

As you figured out by the end, I was going for a theme of people with one-letter names. The final list was:

Harry S. Truman
Mr. T
U Thant
George V
Malcolm X

I think the idea came from thinking about the fact that the S in Truman's name famously isn't an abbreviation of a middle name, and then combining that with U Thant and Malcolm X made for a nice theme. (For the record, "U" isn't a given name, but rather a Burmese honorific: it's like saying "Mr. Thant".)

It was also important to me that the names be their actual names. So, I wouldn't have considered Ice T, because that is the stage name of Tracy Lauren Marrow. But the man who was born Laurence Tureaud legally changed his name to "Mr. T" when he was 18, so that was fine.

Picking any monarch who was the fifth one of their name would have worked; this was a fun way to get V into the round. I spent a long time trying to come up with a way to get a W in there, but couldn't come up with one that worked. (Like, the W. in George W. Bush is short for "Walker", so that of course wouldn't have fit my theme.) I eventually gave up and went with the five I had, choosing to mix up the alphabetical order so as not to leave people wondering "Where's W?".

[DreamTrawler]

For the next thread, do we want a regular round or another multi-target one? A smaller one with 3 targets.

[Hominidae]

For the next thread, do we want a regular round or another multi-target one? A smaller one with 3 targets.

It's probably better to space them out to some extent, althought I wouldn't be opposed to another multiball round. I have a multiball idea as well that I'd like to try sooner or later.

[DreamTrawler]

Good point, gotta preserve the novelty. Next thread will be up later today.