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Roger Ebert, the longtime film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, died Thursday,*the newspaper reported. He was 70 years old.
His passing comes just one day after Ebert published a note on his website*that he would be scaling back work as he continued his battle with cancer.*Ebert was hospitalized last fall with a broken hip, of which his wife tweeted was caused by "tricky disco dance moves." Last May he unveiled plans to reinvent "Roger Ebert Presents at The Movies" on PBS, and Tuesday he said he will launch a fundraising campaign via Kickstarter in the next couple weeks.*Ebert's four-star life began June 18, 1942 in Urbana, Ill. Few people have had more impact on the film industry than the Pulitzer Prize winning critic.*A simple thumbs up -- or thumbs down -- became the legendary trademark of Ebert and his long time movie partner, Gene Siskel.
In his heart of hearts Ebert was a newspaper guy, long before he achieved fame and millions of devoted television followers.
As a child he wrote and published the Washington Street News. He delivered it to his neighbors along Washington Street in Urbana.From high school and on to college, Ebert wrote. He tackled sports, news, columns and obituaries. It mattered not.
At the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, he was the Daily Illini‘s editor in chief. Ebert joined the Chicago Sun-Times in 1966. Six months later he was reviewing movies. Nine years after that, he won the Pulitzer Prize, the first film critic to win journalism’s most coveted award.
The first movie Ebert saw was the Marx brothers' "A Day at the Races." Thousands more would follow. As his newspaper career flourished something happened that would change his professional life: television. In 1975 Ebert and Siskel, who wrote for the Chicago Tribune, brought their movie reviews to the small screen in "Opening Soon At A Theatre Near You."The name was changed to "Sneak Previews" in 1978 and at its height it was seen in 180 public television markets and was, according to Television Week, "the highest-rated entertainment show in the history of public broadcasting."Siskel and Ebert fought and argued like brothers. It was part of the charm. But when Siskel died of cancer 1999, Ebert wept.
"I miss him all the time," he said at the time.
The program continued with Richard Roeper, but like a good film an unexpected twist was about to occur: Ebert was diagnosed with thyroid and salivary gland cancer.
A 2006 operation left him speechless and a portion of his chin was removed.Undaunted, Ebert wore his cancer like a Red Badge of Courage, never shirking from public view, often accompanied by his wife Chaz.
He continued to write.He began to tweet, gathering more than 800,000 followers.For more than five decades, Ebert’s reviews were weekly reading in as many as 250 papers across the country.
He earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, ensuring his memory among the immortal Hollywood legends he wrote about.
Now, as Roger Ebert might say, the script is complete.
And the balcony is closed. As the final chapter of his life gently fades to black.
:thumbdown::thumbdown:
Roger Ebert, the longtime film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, died Thursday,*the newspaper reported. He was 70 years old.
His passing comes just one day after Ebert published a note on his website*that he would be scaling back work as he continued his battle with cancer.*Ebert was hospitalized last fall with a broken hip, of which his wife tweeted was caused by "tricky disco dance moves." Last May he unveiled plans to reinvent "Roger Ebert Presents at The Movies" on PBS, and Tuesday he said he will launch a fundraising campaign via Kickstarter in the next couple weeks.*Ebert's four-star life began June 18, 1942 in Urbana, Ill. Few people have had more impact on the film industry than the Pulitzer Prize winning critic.*A simple thumbs up -- or thumbs down -- became the legendary trademark of Ebert and his long time movie partner, Gene Siskel.
In his heart of hearts Ebert was a newspaper guy, long before he achieved fame and millions of devoted television followers.
As a child he wrote and published the Washington Street News. He delivered it to his neighbors along Washington Street in Urbana.From high school and on to college, Ebert wrote. He tackled sports, news, columns and obituaries. It mattered not.
At the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, he was the Daily Illini‘s editor in chief. Ebert joined the Chicago Sun-Times in 1966. Six months later he was reviewing movies. Nine years after that, he won the Pulitzer Prize, the first film critic to win journalism’s most coveted award.
The first movie Ebert saw was the Marx brothers' "A Day at the Races." Thousands more would follow. As his newspaper career flourished something happened that would change his professional life: television. In 1975 Ebert and Siskel, who wrote for the Chicago Tribune, brought their movie reviews to the small screen in "Opening Soon At A Theatre Near You."The name was changed to "Sneak Previews" in 1978 and at its height it was seen in 180 public television markets and was, according to Television Week, "the highest-rated entertainment show in the history of public broadcasting."Siskel and Ebert fought and argued like brothers. It was part of the charm. But when Siskel died of cancer 1999, Ebert wept.
"I miss him all the time," he said at the time.
The program continued with Richard Roeper, but like a good film an unexpected twist was about to occur: Ebert was diagnosed with thyroid and salivary gland cancer.
A 2006 operation left him speechless and a portion of his chin was removed.Undaunted, Ebert wore his cancer like a Red Badge of Courage, never shirking from public view, often accompanied by his wife Chaz.
He continued to write.He began to tweet, gathering more than 800,000 followers.For more than five decades, Ebert’s reviews were weekly reading in as many as 250 papers across the country.
He earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, ensuring his memory among the immortal Hollywood legends he wrote about.
Now, as Roger Ebert might say, the script is complete.
And the balcony is closed. As the final chapter of his life gently fades to black.
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