Roger Ebert, Film Critic, Dies At 70

Roger Ebert died on Thursday after a long battle with cancer, The Chicago Sun-Times, where he long-served as film critic, has reported. He was 70.

While battling cancer, Ebert lost both his voice and his jaw. Yet, the resilient film critic continued to review over 200 movies a year for The Chicago Sun-Times, where he worked for over 45 years. Penning as many as nine reviews a week, Ebert became the definition of a “top critic.” In addition to his eloquent reviews, Ebert published 15 books, contributed to magazines, took over the blogosphere and taught at the University of Chicago. In 1975, Ebert was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for criticism.

The same year that Ebert took home the Pulitzer, he was handpicked along with Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel to host a show about movies called Opening Soon at a Theater Near You. After more than ten years, the pair made the move to Bueno Vista Television and took on the name Siskel & Ebert at the Movies. When Siskel died in 1999, Richard Roeper became Ebert’s co-host, but the veteran was forced to retire from his position in 2006 after suffering complications from a surgery for thyroid cancer.

Ebert wrote a blog post just two days ago to announce that he would be taking a “leave of presence” from the Sun-Times, after a bone fracture was found to be the result of his cancer returning. At the time, it was assured that his site, Rogerebert.com, would be re-launching on April 9, and that his film event Eberfest would go on as scheduled April 17-21. Ebert had also been assisting with a bio-documentary based on his life with filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Steve James and Steve Zaillian.

Roger Ebert is survived by his wife, Chaz.

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