Roger Joseph Ebert, a historian, journalist, screenwriter, author, and was the all-time best-known, most successful movie critic in cinema history —when one thinks of his establishing a rapport with both serious cineastes and the movie-going public and reaching more movie fans via television and print than any other critic.
He is the only film critic with a star on Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame and was named honorary life member of the Directors’ Guild of America. His opinions likely were relied on by more movie-goers than any other critic in cinema history —making Roger Ebert the gold standard for film criticism. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Screenwriters’ Guild, and honorary degrees from the American Film Institute and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
As a child, Roger Ebert developed his skills in writing and appreciation for movies. At his young age, he was writing and publishing his own local paper, the Washington Street Times, which he named after the street he lived on. In high school, Ebert became the editor for the school’s paper. To earn extra money, he also wrote for The News-Gazette in Champaign, Illinois where his styles and talent were on full display. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois, Ebert pursued a Ph.D. in English at the University of Chicago.
He was a lecturer on film for the University of Chicago extension program from 1970 until 2006, and recorded shot-by-shot commentaries for the DVDs of “Citizen Kane,” “Casablanca,” “Floating Weeds,” and “Dark City,” and has written over 20 books. In 1975, he became the first and only movie critic to win a Pulitzer Prize (it would be 28 years before another film critic would win journalism’s top tchotchke).
On that same year, Ebert teamed up with a fellow movie critic Gene Siskel on a weekly movie review program ‘At the Movies’ on national TV where they debated the quality of the latest films. They have proved a hit, where Siskel and Ebert became household names; Siskel and Ebert became almost as celebrated and famous as the movies and movie stars they covered. They worked until 1999 when Siskel passed away due to a brain tumor. Siskel’s death, however, did not signal the death of At the Movies. To continue on with the work that he and his partner had started, and perhaps to keep his friend’s memory alive, Ebert chose to keep the program going. With the help of his wife Chaz, Ebert tried out a parade of guest hosts before settling on Sun-Times colleague Richard Roeper as Siskel’s replacement.
Ebert also continued to move forward off-screen. He wrote more books and even took the hard steps toward losing weight. But in 2002, the celebrated critic experienced significant health issues of his own. He was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and salivary gland cancer. After battling cancer for more than a decade, Roger Ebert died on April 4, 2013, at the age of 70, in Chicago, Illinois.
Ebert’s Pultizer Prize-winning reviews and enduring presence in the entertainment industry, despite his illness, made him one of the most popular and influential movie critics of his time. The annual Ebert Fest film festival, which the critic launched in 1999, continues to be regarded as a regular movie lover’s event in Champaign, Illinois.
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