Ebert revisited and sometimes revised his opinions. After ranking "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" third on his 1982 list, it was the only movie from that year to appear on his later "Best Films of the 1980s" list (where it also ranked third). He made similar revaluations of 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and 1985's "Ran". "The Three Colors trilogy" ("", "", and ""), and "Pulp Fiction" originally ranked second and third on Ebert's 1994 list; both were included on his "Best Films of the 1990s" list, but their order had reversed.
In 1975 Ebert became the first movie critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In 2005, Ebert became the first movie critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ebert's home town of Champaign, Illinois are trying to raise money for a statue in Ebert's honor.
In July 2014, a documentary about Ebert's life, "Life Itself", was released to very positive reviews.
Ebert was married to Chaz Hammelsmith from July 18, 1992 until his death in 2013. They had no children. Ebert lived with Chaz in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. He was a supporter for the Democratic Party. Ebert was an agnostic. On April 25, 2011, he accomplished one of his long-time goals: winning one of the weekly caption contests in "The New Yorker" after more than 100 tries. Ebert's personal net worth was U.S. $9 million.
In early 2002, Ebert was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. In February, surgeons at Northwestern Memorial Hospital successfully removed the cancer with clean margins. He later underwent surgery in 2003 for cancer in his salivary gland, and in December of that year, underwent a four-week follow-up course of radiation to his salivary glands, which altered his voice slightly. Ebert continued to be a dedicated critic of film, not missing a single opening while undergoing treatment. The cancer would eventually lead Ebert to be left in a wheelchair and unable to speak after having the total of three surgeries. Later on, experts created a translator that allowed Ebert to speak whatever he typed. He called his machine "Sir Olivier," because he thought its voice sounded like actor Laurence Olivier.
On April 18, 2008, it was announced that Ebert had fractured his hip in a fall, a result of the weakening of his body following the unsuccessful tissue transplants, and had undergone surgery to repair it. In December 2012, Ebert was hospitalized with a fractured hip, which his wife Chaz jokingly blamed on "tricky disco dance moves".
On April 4, 2013, Ebert died of cancer at age 70 at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago according to the Chicago Sun-Times. His wife Chaz said that "We were getting ready to go home today for hospice care, when he [Ebert] looked at us, smiled, and passed away." He battled cancer for 11 years. The closing sentence on his final blog post, two days before his death, said, "So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies."
Hundreds attended including Pat Quinn, Rahm Emanuel, and Richard Roeper in the April 8, 2013 funeral Mass held at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral, where Ebert was celebrated as a film critic, newspaperman, advocate for social justice, husband and father. In his eulogy, the Rev. John F. Costello sought to dispel the notion that Ebert was an either non-believer, or agnostic, by invoking the movie "The Hours" and its observations on lives cut short; and saying that Ebert, raised Catholic, wrestled with "the mystery of faith" not as someone who rejected God but, rather, as someone forever seeking further understanding. Father Michael Pfleger concluded the service with: "the balconies of heaven are filled with angels singing `thumbs up.'" Ebert was later buried at the Graceland Cemetery in Chicago's north side.
A 2-hour-and-45-minute public tribute, entitled "Roger Ebert: A Celebration of Life", was held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, 2013 at the Chicago Theatre. It featured in-person remembrances, video testimonials, video and film clips, gospel choirs, and was, according to the "Chicago Tribune"'s Mark Caro, "a laughter- and sorrow-filled send-off from the entertainment and media worlds."
Ebert's death prompted wide reaction from celebrities both in and out of the entertainment industry. President Barack Obama wrote, "Roger was the movies ... [he could capture] the unique power of the movies to take us somewhere magical ... The movies won't be the same without Roger". Robert Redford called Ebert "one of the great champions of freedom of artistic expression" and said "His personal passion for cinema was boundless, and that is sure to be his legacy for generations to come." Oprah Winfrey called Ebert's death the "end of an era", as did Steven Spielberg, who also said that Ebert's "reviews went far deeper than simply thumbs up or thumbs down. He wrote with passion through a real knowledge of film and film history, and in doing so, helped many movies find their audiences... [he] put television criticism on the map".
Seibersdorf
Seibersdorf is a village in Lower Austria, Austria. As of 2001, about 1200 people lived there. It is close to Vienna, and mostly known for the research centre of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a series of revolutions in the Russian Empire during 1917. The events destroyed the Tsarist autocracy, and helped to create the Soviet Union.
The first revolution was on 8 March 1917, but in Russia it was recorded as 28 February 1917. This happened because Russia still used the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar, which is what we use for measuring dates today. After the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to step down and was replaced with a socialist provisional government. This government was meant to rule for a short time until the country became stable again.
The second revolution, the October Revolution, was in October of the Julian calendar. Communist Bolsheviks replaced the provisional government, and created the Soviet Union. The royal family was put under house arrest, but later shot and killed. The term "Red October" is used to describe the events of this month.
During the 1890s, improvements in Russian industry put more jobs in cities. This made the cities larger as people moved there. The workers in the cities, with increasing levels of education, began to develop an interest in politics and the creation of political parties in order to try and change their lives for the better. The conditions that they lived and worked in were horrible. Poor people from other parts of the Russian Empire, like Poland and Ukraine, also created their own parties to try and stop the Russians oppressing them.
This added to the people's anger, and after the Tsar's guards fired at a peaceful protest of workers, a rebellion began. It did not really change anything, but it meant that Nicholas promised to create an elected Parliament, or Duma.
The Duma was elected for the first time in March 1906. However, there were both left-wing and right-wing opponents to it, including socialists and people who were very loyal to the Tsar. There were also arguments over whether or not to take power from the Tsar and give it to more ordinary people. Nicholas eventually stopped the Duma three times, and because that meant they could not say anything against Nicholas, people became angry.
In 1914, Russia joined World War I. At first, people thought this was a good decision, and the country was united by patriotism. But there were huge problems with supplies, and by 1915 many soldiers were being sent to fight without any guns. Communication was bad, and Army officers argued a lot. That meant that they did not make plans well. The soldiers became unhappy, and over 3,000,000 Russians died. St. Petersburg was also renamed to Petrograd by the tsar in 1914 because he thought St. Petersburg sounds too German, especially for a capital.