Roger Joseph Ebert is an American Film Critic

Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

Roger Joseph Ebert is an American Film Critic

Ebert is known for his film review column (appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, and later online) and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The Movies, all of which he co-hosted for a combined 23 years with Gene Siskel. After Siskel's death in 1999, Ebert teamed with Richard Roeper for the television series Ebert & Roeper & the Movies, which began airing in 2000. Although his name remained in the title, Ebert did not appear on the show after mid-2006, when he suffered post-surgical complications related to thyroid cancer which left him unable to speak. Ebert ended his association with the show in July 2008, but in February 2009 he stated that he and Roeper would continue their work on a new show. Ebert's current show, Ebert Presents at the Movies, premiered on January 21, 2011, with Ebert appearing in a brief segment called "Roger's Office".

Ebert's movie reviews are syndicated to more than 200 newspapers in the United States and worldwide by Universal Press Syndicate. He has written more than 15 books, including his annual movie yearbook which is predominantly a collection of his reviews of that year. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize. His television programs have been widely syndicated and have been nominated for Emmy awards. In February 1995, a section of Chicago's Erie Street near the CBS Studios was renamed Siskel & Ebert Way. In June 2005, Ebert was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was the first professional film critic to receive such an award. He has honorary degrees from the University of Colorado, the AFI Conservatory, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Forbes has described him as "the most powerful pundit in America".

Since 1996, he has written a Great Movies series of individual reviews of what he deems to be the most important films of all time. This list and his associated reviews have now expanded to include over 300 movies. Since 1999, he has hosted the annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival in Champaign, Illinois.

Roger Joseph Ebert Early life and education

Roger Joseph Ebert was born in Urbana, Illinois, the son of Walter H. Ebert, an electrician, and Annabel Ebert. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants and his maternal ancestry is Dutch and Irish. Ebert's interest in journalism began as a student at Urbana High School, where he was a sports writer 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. He became involved in science fiction fandom, writing articles for fanzines, including Richard A. Lupoff's Xero. 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.

Regarding his early influences in film critiquing, Ebert wrote in the 1998 parody collection Mad About the Movies:

"I learned to be a movie critic by reading Mad magazine... 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 did not read the magazine, I plundered it for clues to the universe. Pauline Kael lost it at the movies; I lost it at Mad magazine."

After briefly attending the University of Chicago, 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. One of the first movie reviews he ever wrote was a review of La dolce vita, published in The Daily Illini in October 1961. After Ebert wrote an article on the death of writer Brendan Behan for Chicago Daily News editor Herman Kogan, Ebert was given a job as a reporter and feature writer at the Sun-Times in 1966. After movie critic Eleanor Keane left the paper, editor Robert Zonk gave the job to Ebert