Roger Ebert

**Roger Joseph Ebert** (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was published in ''Reader's Digest*.

### Working with Russ Meyer
Ebert co-wrote the screenplay for the 1970 Russ Meyer movie *Beyond the Valley of the Dolls* and likes to joke about being responsible for the movie, which was poorly received on its release but is now regarded as a cult classic. Ebert and Meyer also made *Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens*, *Up!*, and others, and were involved in the ill-fated Sex Pistols movie *Who Killed Bambi?* In April 2010, Ebert posted his screenplay of *Who Killed Bambi?* aka *Anarchy in the UK* on his blog.

 in 1970]]
From the 1970s, Ebert worked for the University of Chicago as a guest lecturer, teaching a night class on movies. His fall 2005 class was on the works of the German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

### Working with Gene Siskel
In 1975, Ebert and Gene Siskel of the *Chicago Tribune* began co-hosting a weekly movie review television show, *Sneak Previews*, which was locally produced by the Chicago public broadcasting station WTTW. The show was picked up by PBS in 1978 for national distribution. In 1982, the critics moved to a television program named *At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert*, and in 1986 they left to create *Siskel & Ebert & The Movies* with Buena Vista Television (part of the Walt Disney Company).

The duo was known for their "thumbs up/thumbs down" review summaries. When Siskel died in 1999, the producers retitled the show *Roger Ebert & the Movies* with rotating co-hosts. In September 2000, fellow *Chicago Sun-Times* columnist Richard Roeper became the permanent co-host and the show was renamed *At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper*.

### Television show
Ebert was the co-host of the television show *Ebert and Roeper* (originally *Siskel and Ebert''), where he and another critic, originally Gene Siskel (1946-1999) and after Siskel's death, Richard Roeper, appear in and talk about new movies.

His name stayed in the title, but Ebert did not appear on the show after mid-2006, because of problems after surgery for thyroid cancer which left him unable to speak.

Ebert ended his association with the show in July 2008, but in February 2009 he said that he and Roeper would continue their work on a new show. Ebert was on a show called, *Ebert Presents at the Movies*, premiered on January 21, 2011, with Ebert appearing in a brief segment called "Roger's Office".

On September 13, 2013, it was announced that fellow co-star critic Richard Roeper was to replace Ebert as the main movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.

### Movie taste
Ebert said that his favorite movie was *Citizen Kane*, joking, "That's the official answer", although he liked to keep saying it as "the most important" movie. He kept saying that his real favorite movie was *La Dolce Vita*. His favorite actor was Robert Mitchum, and his favorite actress was Ingrid Bergman. He expressed his general dislikes for "top ten" lists, and all movie lists in general,

Ebert compiled "best of the year" movie lists beginning in the 1960s, thereby helping provide an overview of his critical preferences. His top choices were:

* 1967: *Bonnie and Clyde*
* 1968: *The Battle of Algiers*
* 1969: *Z*
* 1970: *Five Easy Pieces*
* 1971: *The Last Picture Show*
* 1972: *The Godfather*
* 1973: *Cries and Whispers*
* 1974: *Scenes from a Marriage*
* 1975: *Nashville*
* 1976: *Small Change*
* 1977: *3 Women*
* 1978: *An Unmarried Woman*
* 1979: *Apocalypse Now*
* 1980: *The Black Stallion*
* 1981: *My Dinner with Andre*

* 1982: ''Sophie's Choice*
* 1983: *The Right Stuff*
* 1984: *Amadeus*
* 1985: *The Color Purple*
* 1986: *Platoon*
* 1987: *House of Games*
* 1988: *Mississippi Burning*
* 1989: *Do the Right Thing*
* 1990: *Goodfellas*
* 1991: *JFK*
* 1992: *Malcolm X*
* 1993: *Schindler's List*
* 1994: *Hoop Dreams*
* 1995: *Leaving Las Vegas*
* 1996: *Fargo*

* 1997: *Eve's Bayou*
* 1998: *Dark City*
* 1999: *Being John Malkovich*
* 2000: *Almost Famous*
* 2001: *Monster's Ball*
* 2002: *Minority Report*
* 2003: *Monster*
* 2004: *Million Dollar Baby*
* 2005: *Crash*
* 2006: *Pan's Labyrinth*
* 2007: *Juno*
* 2008: *Synecdoche, New York*
* 2009: *The Hurt Locker*
* 2010: *The Social Network*
* 2011: *A Separation*
* 2012: *Argo*

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* (*Blue*, *White*, and *Red*), 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.

## Awards and honors
In 1975 Ebert became the first movie critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. 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.

## Personal life
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.

### Cancer
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.

### Falls
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".

## Death
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.

### Reactions
Ebert's death prompted wide reaction from celebrities both in and out of the entertainment industry. President Barack Obama wrote, "Roger was the movies&nbsp;... [he could capture] the unique power of the movies to take us somewhere magical&nbsp;... 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".

## References
## Other websites
* 
* Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival
* Archive of American Television interview
* 
* 
* Siskel & Ebert's classic shows (1975–1999)
* Speech: Remaking My Voice  (2011)