Famed movie critic Roger Ebert has died, just one day after we reported that he was planning to take “a leave of presence,” from his duties for the Chicago Sun Times while renewing his battle against cancer. He was 70.
Ebert experienced health problems over the past ten years, suffering illnesses including thyroid cancer and cancer of the salivary gland. In 2006 he lost part of his lower jaw. However, as his obituary in the Sun-Times stated, “ it didn't drive him out of the spotlight.”
An opinionated writer, as well as a true a movie fan, Ebert reviewed films for the Chicago Sun-Times for 46 years. He was perhaps best known, however, for his 31 years reviewing films on television. He also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975 and was added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005, as well as being awarded a Webby "Person of the Year" award in 2010 for special achievement.
In learning of his passing, President Obama, also from Chicago, released the following statement. “Michelle and I are saddened to hear about the passing of Roger Ebert. For a generation of Americans - and especially Chicagoans - Roger was the movies. When he didn't like a film, he was honest; when he did, he was effusive - capturing the unique power of the movies to take us somewhere magical. Even amidst his own battles with cancer, Roger was as productive as he was resilient - continuing to share his passion and perspective with the world. The movies won't be the same without Roger, and our thoughts and prayers are with Chaz and the rest of the Ebert family."
Roger Joseph Ebert was born June 18, 1942, in Urbana, IL. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Illinois in 1964, Ebert spent a semester as a master's student in the department of English there before attending the University of Cape Town in South Africa on a Rotary fellowship for a year. He returned from Cape Town to his graduate studies at Illinois for two more semesters and then, after being accepted as a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago,
He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1964, where he wrote and edited for student publications. He studied in South Africa on a Rotary Scholarship after graduating and later went on to the University of Chicago with the plan of earning his doctorate in English. As a student, Ebert also expressed interest in working at the Sun-Times and by April 1967, he was asked to become the paper's film critic when the previous critic, Eleanor Keen, retired.
Ebert is survived by his wife Charlie “Chaz” Hammelsmith (vice president of the Ebert Company), a step-daughter, and two step-grandchildren.
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