Final Jeopardy: Actors (1-2-14)

The Final Jeopardy question (1/2/2014), in the category “Actors” was:

In the 50s he won a Tony for Best Supporting Actor in a musical & a Best Actor Oscar for playing the same role, a monarch.

5-time champ Jerry Slowik took a giant step on the TOC list with his $121,800 total winnings and is now the top 5-game winner. Can he make it 6? Today his competition comes from these two ladies: Rachel Samberg, from New York, NY; and Sarah Olson, from El Cerrito, CA.

Sarah found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “World of Facts” under the $800 clue. She was in the lead with $1,800, $600 ahead of Jerry in second place. She bet $600 and she was RIGHT.

In 1808 Prince John made this New World city the capital of the Portuguese empire. show

WHAT IS RIO DE JANEIRO?

Sarah finished in the lead with $6,400. Jerry was second with $4,600 and Rachel was last with $2,400.

Jerry found the first Daily Double in “Word Origins” under the $2,000 clue. He was in second place with $6,200, $7,400 less than Sarah’s big lead (she ran “Stone Cold Jane Austen”). He bet it all and thought it was fuschia. That was WRONG.

This purplish red is named for a town in Northern Italy. show

WHAT IS MAGENTA?

Jerry found the last Daily Double in “American History” under the $1,200 clue. In second place with $5,600, he now had $7,200 less than Sarah’s lead and this one last chance to catch up. He made it a true Daily Double again and said Plessy, who was never a slave so that was WRONG.

In May 1857, 2 months after his famous Supreme Court decision, he was freed by Taylor Blow of St. Louis. show

WHO IS DRED SCOTT?

Sarah had the runaway this time. She finished in the lead with $12,800. Rachel was next with $4,800. Jerry managed to get in one last correct answer to finish in third place with $800.

TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS YUL BRYNNER?

Brynner originally starred in the role of The King of Siam in the 1951 Rodgers & Hammerstein musical “The King and I” on Broadway, before going on to portray the role as King Mongkut in the 1956 film. (The title characters are based upon the real King Mongkut of Siam and Anna Leonowens, his children’s schoolteacher). In 1952, Brynner picked up the Tony award — and here is where the clue is somewhat inaccurate and possibly misleading — for Supporting or FEATURED Actor in a Musical, and, in generality (as the character King Mongkut would say), when referring to Brynner and that award, “supporting” is left out, not “featured.”

In addition to the Best Actor Oscar for the film, Brynner later reprised the role on the stage and won a special Tony in 1985, the year he died, honoring his 4,625 performances as the King of Siam.

Jerry got it right and doubled up to finish with $1,600.

Rachel wrote down “Yule Brenner” which didn’t change the pronunciation so it was accepted. She added $3,000, finishing with $7,800.

Sarah thought it was Peter O’Toole (he never won for Best Actor, although nominated 8 times — none in the 1950s). She lost her $2,200 bet but she had $10,200 left and that makes her the new Jeopardy! champ. Congratulations on a great game for Sarah.

A big disappointment to those who were rooting for Jerry to make another $100K. But a valiant try when you notice that, after the first wipe-out, he did manage to make it back to second place. Astonishing that he did not think of Dred Scott.

But not half as astounding as when NO ONE rang in on the $600 clue in the first round in January Holidays & Observances: “January 20 is Philately Day! Also, it’s this big day, thanks to the 20th Amendment.” For goodness sakes!

Here is Sarah demolishing the Jane Austen category. Trivia: Jane Austen had a total of 6 published novels, two posthumously. Anybody know which one they left out? (not you, Sarah).