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Roger Ebert

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Roger Ebert (right) with Russ Meyer, 1970
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Roger Ebert (right) with Russ Meyer, 1970

Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942 in Urbana, Illinois) is a film critic who writes for the Chicago Sun-Times; his reviews are syndicated to over 200 newspapers in the U.S. and abroad. He is also a long-time co-host of a syndicated television program featuring his film criticism, first for 23 years with Gene Siskel and, since Siskel's death, with Richard Roeper on Ebert & Roeper.

In 1975 he became the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Ebert has honorary degrees from the University of Colorado, the American Film Institute, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in June 2005, the first professional film critic to receive this honor.

Through his newspaper reviews, books, television shows, and lectures, he has contributed considerably to the appreciation of film among members of the public. He also runs a special section of his website [RogerEbert.com] devoted to what he deems to be great films.

Since 1999 Ebert has hosted the annual Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival in Champaign, Illinois.

Contents

Career as a critic

Ebert began his film critic career in 1967, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times.

In 1976 he and Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune began co-hosting a weekly movie review television show, Sneak Previews, produced by the Chicago public broadcasting station WTTW. The show became national when it was picked up by PBS in 1978. In 1982, the critics moved to a syndicated commercial television show named At the Movies, and later, Siskel & Ebert, where they were known for their "thumbs up/thumbs down" review summaries.

When Siskel died in 1999, Ebert and his show's producers retitled the show Roger Ebert & the Movies which rotated co-hosts as a way of auditioning them. In September of 2000, fellow Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper became the permanent co-host and the show was renamed Ebert & Roeper.

Ebert has also done DVD audio-commentaries for several films including Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Dark City, Floating Weeds, Crumb, and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

On the day that ABC television network carries the Academy Awards show, Ebert, with partner Roeper, annually appear on the live pre-awards show branded "An Evening at the Academy Awards: The Arrivals" prior to the network show featuring red carpet interviews and fashion commentary. They also appear on the post awards show entitled "An Evening at the Academy Awards: the Winners". Both shows are produced by ABC's Los Angeles station KABC-TV, and are simulcast on ABC's Chicago station WLS-TV and several other ABC affiliates.

Other career highlights

As a teenager, Ebert was involved in science fiction fandom,See his autobiographical essay in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, ["Thought Experiments: How Propeller-Heads, BNFs, Sercon Geeks, Newbies, Recovering GAFIAtors, and Kids in the Basements Invented the World Wide Web, All Except for the Delivery System."] writing articles for fanzines, including Richard Lupoff's Xero. In 1958, he won the Illinois high school championship in radio speaking, a speech event.

Ebert co-wrote the screenplay for the 1970 cult film, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, directed by Russ Meyer, and likes to joke about being responsible for the poorly received film. Ebert and Meyer also made Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens and were involved in the ill-fated Sex Pistols movie Who Killed Bambi?.

Style of criticism

Ebert often makes heavy use of mocking sarcasm, especially when reviewing movies he considers bad. His reviews are also often characterized by dry wit. Ebert has been also known occasionally to review movies in the forms of stories, poems, songs, scripts, or imagined conversations.

Ebert has written many essays and articles exploring in-depth the concept of film criticism, treating it as a serious subject.

In his own words:

Ebert is an outspoken opponent of the Motion Picture Association of America rating system, and has repeatedly criticized their decisions regarding which movies are "suitable for children" - for example, Whale Rider, which he thought should be PG instead of PG-13.[Ebert's "Movie Answer Man column", November 16, 2003] In his review of The Exorcist, Ebert expressed shock that the film received a rating of "R" from the MPAA instead of an "X" (he said it was "stupefying" that it managed to receive the lighter rating). He also frequently laments that cinemas outside major cities are "booked by computer from Hollywood with no regard for local tastes," making high-quality independent and foreign films virtually unavailable to most moviegoers.Roger Ebert, "[They got it right]," Chicago Sun Times (29 Jan. 2004)

Ebert rated 2005's "The Honeymooners" three stars while most critics panned the film and it is currently No. 22 on the Internet Movie Database’s Bottom 100 list. Ebert also gave three stars to Booty Call, Love Don't Cost a Thing and Drumline. and The Shawshank Redemption were given 3 1/2 stars. It is important to understand, however, that Ebert emphasizes the importance of the written review over his stars; he has assured that the star system is highly unreliable if the review is not taken into account. There have been instances (see "Basic Instinct 2") where his star review completely contradicts his overall opinion and he explains this "I cannot recommend the movie, but ... why the hell can't I? Just because it's godawful? What kind of reason is that for staying away from a movie? Godawful and boring, that would be a reason."

Famous quotations

Personal life

Ebert's interest in journalism began in his teens. While at Urbana High School in Urbana, Illinois, he was a sports writer for The News-Gazette in Champaign, Illinois, and in his senior year he was co-editor of his high school newspaper, The Echo. In 1958, Ebert won the Illinois High School Association state speech championship in Radio Speaking, an event that simulates radio newscasts.[Roger Ebert in the IHSA list of state speech champions] Ebert received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was editor of The Daily Illini and member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.

Ebert did graduate study in English at the University of Cape Town under a Rotary International Fellowship. He was a doctoral candidate in English at the University of Chicago when the film critic's position was offered to him at the Sun-Times. For the last three decades he has worked for the University of Chicago as a guest lecturer, teaching a night class on film. His fall 2005 class was on the works of the German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

He married trial attorney Chaz Hammelsmith on July 18, 1993 and has a step-daughter and two step-grandchildren. He has been friends with, and at one time dated, Oprah Winfrey, who credits him with encouraging her to go into syndication. He is also good friends with film historian and critic Leonard Maltin, and considers the book Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide to be the standard of film criticism.

In 2002, Ebert suffered a bout with papillary thyroid cancer. He underwent surgery in February 2002 which successfully removed the cancer. He later underwent surgery in 2003 for cancer in his salivary gland. In December 2003, he underwent a four week course of radiation treatment as a followup to the surgery on his salivary gland which altered his voice slightly. He continued to review movies, not missing a single opening while undergoing treatment.

He underwent surgery Friday, June 16 2006 to remove a cancerous growth on his salivary gland. He was quoted as saying, "This is known as a slow growing and persistent cancer. You live with it." On July 2 2006, Ebert was hospitalized in serious condition after a blood vessel burst near the surgery site. He currently remains hospitalized but is recovering.[link]

His wife, Chaz, issued a statement on the current condition of the critic. She asked for prayers and for the public to go out and watch movies, even those to which Ebert gave thumbs down. [link]

He filmed enough TV programs with his co-host, Richard Roeper, to keep him on the air while he recovers. Robert Feder, [Ebert to undergo cancer surgery again] Chicago Sun-Times (1 June, 2006).

Books written by Ebert

Each year, Ebert publishes a book of all the movie reviews from that year. He has also authored the following books:

References

See also

External links

 

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