He approached these works with undisguised admiration. Alfred Prufrock", Crime and Punishment, Madame Bovary, The Ambassadors, Nostromo, The Professor's House, The Great Gatsby, The Sound and the Fury. His college mentor was Daniel Curley, who "introduced me to many of the cornerstones of my life's reading: " The Love Song of J. (He had begun at the News-Gazette at age 15 covering Urbana High School sports.) While at the University of Illinois, Ebert worked as a reporter for The Daily Illini and then served as its editor during his senior year while also continuing to work as a reporter for the News-Gazette of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. After graduating from Urbana High School in 1960, Ebert then attended and received his undergraduate degree in 1964. Roger Ebert, Mad About the Movies (1998 parody collection) Įbert began taking classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as an early-entrance student, completing his high school courses while also taking his first university class. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies I lost it at Mad magazine" I did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Mad 's parodies made me aware of the machine inside the skin – of the way a movie might look original on the outside, while inside it was just recycling the same old dumb formulas. "I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine . In 1958, he won the Illinois High School Association state speech championship in "radio speaking," an event that simulates radio newscasts. In his senior year, he was class president and co-editor of his high school newspaper, The Echo. Ebert's interest in journalism began when he was a student at Urbana High School, where he was a sportswriter for The News-Gazette in Champaign, Illinois however, he began his writing career with letters of comment to the science-fiction fanzines of the era. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants and his maternal ancestry was Irish and Dutch. Mary's elementary school and serving as an altar boy in Urbana. He was raised Roman Catholic, attending St. Roger Joseph Ebert was born on June 18, 1942, in Urbana, Illinois, the only child of Annabel (née Stumm, 1911–1987), a bookkeeper, and Walter Harry Ebert (1901–1960), an electrician. He wrote his memoir Life Itself (2011) which was later made into a 2014 documentary film of the same title. His website, launched in 2002 and remains online as an archive of his published writings. However, his ability to write remained unimpaired and he continued to publish frequently online and in print until his death on April 4, 2013. He required treatment that included removing a section of his lower jaw in 2006, leaving him severely disfigured and unable to speak or eat normally. After Siskel died in 1999 of a sudden illness, Ebert continued hosting the show with various co-hosts and then, starting in 2000, with Richard Roeper.Įbert was diagnosed with cancer of the thyroid and salivary glands in 2002. They regularly appeared on numerous talk shows together including Late Show with David Letterman. They created and trademarked the phrase "two thumbs up," used when both gave the same film a positive review. The two verbally sparred and traded humorous barbs while discussing films. Starting in 1975, Ebert and Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel helped popularize nationally televised film reviewing when they co-hosted the PBS show Sneak Previews, followed by several variously named At the Movies programs. Early in his career Ebert co-wrote with Russ Meyer the film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970). While a populist, Ebert frequently endorsed foreign and independent films he believed would be appreciated by mainstream viewers, which often resulted in such films receiving greater exposure. Writing in a prose style intended to be entertaining and direct, he made sophisticated cinematic and analytical ideas more accessible to non-specialist audiences. Neil Steinberg of the Chicago Sun-Times said Ebert "was without question the nation's most prominent and influential film critic," and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called him "the best-known film critic in America." Įbert was known for his intimate, Midwestern writing voice and critical views informed by values of populism and humanism. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. Roger Joseph Ebert ( / ˈ iː b ər t/ J– April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter, and author.
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