Roger Ebert

Said that his favorite actress of all time was Ingrid Bergman.

He had his right thumb trademarked.

Awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Colorado.

He has a stepdaughter, Sonia, and three step-grandchildren.

Film critic. Has written 15 books.

Was a film lecturer at the University of Chicago Fine Arts Program.

Hobbies: walking, reading, travel, sketching, cosmology, genetic evolution.

Member of Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame since 1997.

Attended the University of Illinois, won national college award for his campus newspaper columns.

Attended and graduated from Urbana High School in Urbana, Illinois . Sportswriter at age 15.

Hollywood Radio and Television Societys Co-Man of the Year 1993 (with Gene Siskel ).

Chicagos Erie Way was renamed Siskel & Ebert Way in 1995.

His widow is an attorney.

His home had a mini-movie theater and a glass enclosed workout room, plus he had a life-sized statue of Oliver Hardy.

Once told David Letterman that if he were trapped on a deserted island with only one film to watch, that film would be Citizen Kane .

He went to the draft for the Vietnam War and almost got in, but he was told he was overweight and was rejected. He was 26 years old and weighed 206 pounds at that time.

Brother in the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.

Estimated he saw well over 10,000 films in his lifetime.

Shoulder surgery in May 2002 caused him to miss attending Cannes Film Festival for first time in 25 years. Broke left shoulder in two places after slipping on wet floor.

His fourth annual EbertFest of Overlooked Films held at Virginia Theatre in Champaign, Illinois, drew almost twenty thousand people over five days in March 2002.

Was high school classmates with David Ogden Stiers.

Considered the film Day of the Woman to be the worst movie he has ever seen, then called its 2010 remake worse.

First person ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for film criticism; in 2003, Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post became the second.

He drew criticism when he stated that he considered The Passion of the Christ to be the most violent film Ive ever seen. Many misinterpreted that to mean that he felt that the violence in the film was negative and exploitive (even though he gave the film a glowing review). He stated in his Q and A column that "The effect of movie violence depends on subjective factors, including the purpose the filmmakers had in using it."

Was an avid user and fanatic of IMDb (Internet Movie Database).

Considered Goodfellas the best mob movie ever made.

At the end of the 1990s, he and Martin Scorsese made a list of the top ten films of the decade. Rogers were: 1. Hoop Dreams 2. Pulp Fiction 3. Goodfellas 4. Fargo 5. Three Colors: Red, White and Blue 6. Schindlers List 7. Breaking the Waves 8. Leaving Las Vegas 9. Malcolm X 10. JFK .

Wrote an introduction for the book "Mad at a Movies", a compilation of past movie satires from the pages of Mad magazine. He credits Mads movie satires as one of his earliest inspirations for becoming a film critic.

Believed the Academys biggest mistake was giving Gladiator the award for Best Picture of the year in 2000.

Said his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum.

Survived a bout with thyroid cancer, as well as a cancerous salivary gland tumor.

Spent a year on a Rotary fellowship at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He later started a Ph.D at the University of Chicago, which he did not finish.

Despite undergoing debilitating cancer treatment and radiation in 2004, Ebert continued his award-winning movie reviews, writing an incredible 274 reviews that year, plus 26 essays on great movies and 26 versions of his column "The Movie Answer Man". He also covered various film festivals (including Cannes) and the Oscars.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 23, 2005.

Author of the "Boulder Pledge" 1996 - a strong statement against spam in response to hearing the fact some people will purchase things advertised via spam. If people dont buy things, theres no reason to send this.

Three of the five films hes chosen from 2000 to 2004 as the best of the year, have all won their lead actresses the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Halle Berry in Monsters Ball (his choice for the best film of 2001), Charlize Theron in Monster (his choice for the best film of 2003) and Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby (his choice for the best film of 2004).

Had an extensive collection of cartoon character toys, dolls and action figures.

His top ten films of all time were: The General (1926) , Citizen Kane , Tky monogatari , Vertigo , La dolce vita , 2001: A Space Odyssey , Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes , Apocalypse Now , Raging Bull and The Tree of Life .

Wrote his review of Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties in first person as Garfield.

He was an only child.

On July 1, 2006, he had surgery to repair a burst blood vessel near his salivary gland, near where he had his previous cancer operation.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors." New Revision Series, volume 151, pages 132-135. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale.

Panned Reservoir Dogs on his show while praising Cop & .

Claimed in his original review of Rocky that Sylvester Stallone was the "next Marlon Brando ".

Police departments across the United States, including the makers of "Cops" , hold a review at their annual conventions, of actual arrest/cross examine procedure on videotape. It is titled "Fiscal and Deebert", spoofing the critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.

Shared the birthplace of Urbana, Illinois with the character Hal 9000, as specified in 2001: A Space Odyssey one of his favorite films. He held a birthday party for Hal 9000 at the University of Illinois in Urbana in 1997 (Hals birth-date in the novel, not the film) celebrated with a screening of 2001 and its co-writer Arthur C. Clarke in attendance via satellite.

Said that the first movie he ever saw was A Day at the Races starring The Marx Brothers.

As a result of suffering from thyroid cancer, he had to have his lower jaw removed. He lost all ability to speak, eat and drink. His legs were also weakened from unsuccessful attempts at building a new jaw from other bone and tissue. He was nourished through infusions and a tube and communicated via his computer or through signs he made with his hands. Despite all health problems, he continued to work as a movie critic.

As of December 2010, he has twice refused to assign a star rating to a film: once for Pink Flamingos and once for The Human Centipede (First Sequence) . In both cases, he explained his reasoning was that a film made to disgust the viewer cannot be judged as "good" or "bad", but either must be accepted for what it is or not at all.

Longtime personal friends with Joe Mantegna.

In reference to a film adaptation of the Russ Meyer biography, "Big Bosoms and Square Jaws", Roger said that he would want to be portrayed by either Jack Black or Philip Seymour Hoffman.

His favorite film of the naughts was Synecdoche, New York . His other top ten are The Hurt Locker , Monster , Juno , Me and You and Everyone We Know , Chop Shop , Le fils , 25th Hour , Almost Famous and My Winnipeg .

Editor of "The Daily Illini" during his senior year at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. One of his first movie reviews was a review of La dolce vita , published in The Daily Illini on October 4, 1961, when he was a sophomore.

Born on the same day as Paul McCartney.

Longtime friends with Leonard Maltin and Oprah Winfrey.

His final published review was for To the Wonder .

Met a young, unfamiliar critic Gene Siskel in 1969 at a Chicago Newspaper. They became friends for 30 years until Siskels death, early in 1999.

Mentor of Richard Roeper.

One of his favorite films was Dark City to which he gave four stars.

Is referenced, along with Gene Siskel , in the song "The Bad Touch" by Bloodhound Gang.

His paternal grandparents were German. His mother was of Irish and Dutch descent.

Cited The Third Man as his favourite film for the AFI book "Private Screenings".

Died four days before Annette Funicello. Both could not eat, drink or talk in their last years; both were born in 1942 and died at age 70.

During his short stint as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he always worked with well-known sexploitation director Russ Meyer , starting with Beyond the Valley of the Dolls .

A life-size bronze statue of Ebert was unveiled outside the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, Illinois on April 24, 2014. The statue depicts Ebert sitting in the middle of three theater seats giving his "thumbs up".

Was extremely angry when Hoop Dreams did not win a single Oscar, and was not even nominated for Best Documentary.

The rarest thing he would do in a review was give a film zero stars out of four.

Seven films Roger called "best of the year" did not make Gene Siskels annual list. Following Genes death, one (Monsters Ball [2001]) of Rogers annual top films didnt make Richard Roepers annual list.

Six films Roger selected as "best of the year" later went on win receive Oscars for "Best Picture.".

I am utterly bored by celebrity interviews. Most celebrities are devoid,of interest.

No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough,We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls.

From his review of North (1994) : I hated this movie. Hated hated,hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every stupid simpering,vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that,thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience,by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.

When a movie character is really working, we become that character.

Pearl Harbor (2001) is a two-hour movie squeezed into three,hours, about how on December 7, 1941, the Japanese staged a surprise,attack on an American love triangle.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) is about as close,as you can get to absolute nothing and still have a product to project,on the screen.

[on the creature in Resident Evil (2002) ] That creature is called,The Licker because it has a nine-foot tongue. At one point it has its,tongue nailed to the track and is dragged along the third rail; I hate,it when that happens.

[on New York Minute (2004/I) ] This is a dumb movie about dumb,people.

[on Leaving Las Vegas (1995) ] Oh, this movie is so sad! It is sad,not because of the tragic lives of its characters, but because of their,goodness and their charity.

[on Mi du du xanh (1993) ] Here is a film so placid and filled,with sweetness that watching it is like listening to soothing music.

[on The Blues Brothers (1980) } This is the sherman tank of movie,musicals.

Caligola (1979) is sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash.

If it is not the worst film I have ever seen, that makes it all the,more shameful: People with talent allowed themselves to participate in,this travesty. Disgusted and unspeakably depressed, I walked out of the,film after two hours of its 170-minute length. People learn fast. "This,movie," said the lady in front of me at the drinking fountain, "is the,worst piece of shit I have ever seen".

[on Before Sunrise (1995) ] The R rating for this film, based on a,few four-letter words, is entirely unjustified. It is an ideal film for,teenagers.

To see the snowman is to dislike the snowman.

Films like Fargo (1996) are why I love the movies.

We Americans like to see evil in terms of guns and crime and terrorists,and drug smuggling - big, broad immoral activities. We rarely make,movies about how one person can be personally cruel to another, through,their deep understanding of what might hurt the other person the most.

[on God Told Me To (1976) ] As I left the theater, dazed, I saw a,crowd across the street. A young man in a strait jacket (try not to get,ahead of the story, please) was preparing to be suspended in mid-air,hundreds of inches above the ground, and to escape, Houdini-style. At,the moment he was still standing on the sidewalk - but, believe me, it,was still a better show.

[on Deathmaster (1972) ] [Robert] Quarry arrives at dawn in an old,coffin that floats up on the beach at Santa Monica. If memory serves,it is the same beach used for the opening scene of,Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) . Crab monsters would be a,relief, in fact, but what with the price of crabmeat these days they,have all gone into different lines of work or simply dropped out of,circulation. The next time you eat a crabmeat cocktail, reflect that it,could be eating you.

[on The Longest Yard (2005) ] There is a sense in which attacking,this movie is like kicking a dog for not being better at calculus.

[on Body of Evidence (1993) ] It has to be seen to be believed -,something I do not advise.

A depressing number of people seem to process everything literally. They,are to wit as a blind man is to a forest, able to find every tree, but,each one coming as a surprise.

[on First Descent (2005) ] "As the decade progressed, so did,snowboarding," we learn at one point, leading me to reflect that as the,decade progressed, so did time itself.

I am against censorship and believe that no films or books should be,burned or banned, but film school study is one thing and a general,release is another. Any new Disney film immediately becomes part of the,consciousness of almost every child in America, and I would not want to,be a black child going to school in the weeks after,Song of the South (1946) was first seen by my classmates.

In the same way, if American Beauty (1999) gets four stars, then,"[The United States of] Leland" clocks in at about two.

[on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) ] There are said to be,many levels to the video game, but I succeeded in penetrating only to,the second before I realized I had to abandon Ninja Turtles that,instant, or risk permanent psychic damage. . . but this movie is nowhere,near as bad as it might have been, and probably is the best possible,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie. . . The plot? Do you care?,American films are usually about one or two stars and a handful of,well-known character actors, while Europeans are still capable of,pitching in together for an ensemble piece.

[on The Village (2004) ] Eventually, the secret of Those, etc.

is,revealed. To call it an anticlimax would be an insult not only to,climaxes but to prefixes.

There was a time when the feature was invariably preceded by a cartoon,and audiences smiled when they heard the theme music for "Looney Tunes",and "Merrie Melodies" from Warner Bros. Cartoons have long since been,replaced by 20 minutes of paid commercials in many theaters, an emblem,of the greed of exhibitors and their contempt for their audiences. In,those golden days, the cartoon (and even a newsreel and a short,subject) was a gift from the management.

[on Death Sentence (2007) ] . . . Basically this is a movie about a,lot of people shooting at each other, and during the parts I liked, the,action audience will probably go out to get popcorn, or a tattoo or,something.

[on Southland Tales (2006) ] Note to readers planning to write me,messages informing me that this review was no more than a fevered rant:,You are correct.

[on Slither (2006) ] There are better movies opening this weekend.

[on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) ] Transformers:,Revenge of the Fallen is a horrible experience of unbearable length,briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these,involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the,meager joys.

[on Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005) ] As chance would have,it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in,my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your,movie sucks.

[on The Hot Chick (2002) ] The MPAA rates this PG-13. It is too,vulgar for anyone under 13, and too dumb for anyone over 13.

[on The Master of Disguise (2002) ] The Master of Disguise pants,and wheezes and hurls itself exhausted across the finish line after,barely 65 minutes of movie, and then it follows it with 15 minutes of,end credits in an attempt to clock in as a feature film. We get,outtakes, deleted scenes, flubbed lines and all the other versions of,the Credit Cookie, which was once a cute idea but is getting to be a,bore.

I watched it in mounting gloom, realizing I was witnessing something,historic, a film that for decades to come will be the punch line of,jokes about bad movies.

[on The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) ] The characters in this,movie should be arrested for loitering with intent to moan. Never have,teenagers been in greater need of a jump-start. Granted some of them,are more than 100 years old, but still: their charisma is by Madame,Tussaud. . . sitting through this [movie] is like driving a tractor in low,gear though a sullen sea of Brylcreem.

[on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) ] If you want to,save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male,choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots,and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination.

Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by,pack rats and vandalized nightly.

[on 12 Angry Men (1957) ]: The movie plays like a textbook for,directors interested in how lens choices affect mood. By gradually,lowering his camera, Lumet illustrates another principle of,composition: A higher camera tends to dominate, a lower camera tends to,be dominated. As the film begins, we look down on the characters, and,the angle suggests they can be comprehended and mastered. By the end,they loom over us, and we feel overwhelmed by the force of their,passion.

[on Bloodline (1979) ]: It has been reported that author Sidney,Sheldon was paid $2 million for the screen rights to his novel. I hope,he is laughing all the way to his remedial writing class.

[on Battle Los Angeles (2011) ]: Young men: If you attend this,crap with friends who admire it, tactfully inform them they are idiots.

A common misconception is that Gene and I never agree. The truth is more,often than not we do agree. Some films are obviously good or obviously,bad. That just leaves the ones in the middle for Gene to be wrong,about.

Rango (2011) is some kind of a miracle: An animated comedy for,smart moviegoers, wonderfully made, great to look at, wickedly,satirical, and (gasp!) filmed in glorious 2-D.

[on Final Destination 5 (2011) ] The actors in a movie like this,are essentially doing product placement. By getting their names and,faces out there in a splatter movie, they can perhaps catch the eye of,a casting agent and get a shot at a decent film. They have studied,their craft. They have struggled and dreamed. They have attended,countless auditions. Now at last they have a role in a major Hollywood,release, and can call home: "Mom! I get impaled by the mast of a,sailboat after I fall off a bridge!".

[on The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) (2011) ] The film is,reprehensible, dismaying, ugly, artless and an affront to any notion,however remote, of human decency.

I can buy imperfections if they occur to me after the movie is over. The,problem would be if they occurred to me while I was watching it.

[on Death Wish II (1982) ] In my movie rating system, the most a,movie can get is four stars (My Dinner with Andre (1981) ) and,the least is ordinarily half a star (even,The Beast Within (1982) got a whole star). I award "no stars",only to movies that are artistically inept and morally repugnant.

All I want for Christmas is to never see,All I Want for Christmas (1991) again.

Brave (2012) has an uplifting message about improving,communication between mothers and daughters, although transforming your,mom into a bear is a rather extreme first step.

[on Humpday (2009) ] Women, I suspect, are more likely than men to,view sex from the over-all perspective of what we may call their lives.

In a country like Saudi Arabia, whose citizens express discomfort about,men and women even attending movies together, I have little doubt which,gender is more concerned.

[on If Lucy Fell (1996) ] I found myself hoping they would not,find love, because the only way for a premise this stupid to redeem,itself would be, of course, in their deaths.

[on I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) ] After the screening,was over and the lights went up, I observed a couple of my colleagues,in deep and earnest conversation, trying to resolve twists in the plot.

Now I see that the film, its actors and its meaning have all been,carried on, and that the firemen are going to come looking for all of,us one of these days, sooner or later.

Dear God (1996) is the kind of movie where you walk out repeating,the title, but not with a smile.

[on Marie Antoinette (2006) ] Every criticism I have read of this,film would alter is fragile magic and reduce its romantic and tragic,poignancy to the level of an instructional film.

[on Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996) ] I did not laugh once. I,thought this movie was awful, dreadful, terrible, stupid, idiotic,unfunny, waver, forced, painful, bad.

[on Stargate (1994) ] The movie Ed Wood (1994) about the,worst director of all time, was made to prepare us for Stargate.

In the previous century the movie theater was often, in smaller towns,and cities, the only grand architectural statement, save perhaps for a,church or courthouse. They unashamedly provided a proscenium for our,dreams.

Will the sin that dare not speak its name make an appearance in,Massachusetts Bay? Alas, no.

"This sucks on so many levels. " - Dialogue from Jason X (2001),[;] Rare for a movie to so frankly describe itself. "Jason X" sucks on,the levels of storytelling, character development, suspense, special,effects, originality, punctuation, neatness and aptness of thought.

[on Ladder 49 (2004) ] I was surprisingly affected by the film.

After I left the screening, I walked a while by the river, and sat and,thought, and was happy not to have anything that had to be done right,away.

[on Mr. Magoo (1997) ] There is not a laugh in it. Not one. I,counted.

In the Bleak Midwinter (1995) is the kind of movie that will,probably appeal best to those with a background in the theater and,Shakespeare. It asks, but never really answers, the question of why,intelligent adults would devote their lives to such an ill-paying,frustrating, disappointing profession. Of course a great many other,intelligent adults devote their lives to professions that are equally,frustrating and disappointing, and, while they may pay better, are,boring, and never have opening nights.

Do that which results in the greater good and the lesser evil. I support,freedom of choice. My choice is to not support abortion, except in,cases of a clear-cut choice between the lives of the mother and child.

A child conceived through incest or rape is innocent and deserves the,right to be born.

[on Trop belle pour toi (1989) ] Somebody was asking the other day,what the difference was between French and American films. American,films are about plots, I said, and French films are about people. You,can usually tell where a plot is heading, but a person, now - a person,will fool you.

Every great film should seem new every time you see it.

[on Mandingo (1975) ] This is a film I felt soiled by.

[on Happy Gilmore (1996) ] Maybe nobody paid for product,placement. "Happy Gilmore" is filled with so many plugs it looks like a,product placement sampler in search of a movie. I probably missed a,few, but I counted Diet Pepsi, Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Subway sandwich shops,Budweiser (in bottles, cans, and Bud-dispensing helmets), Michelob,Visa cards, Bell Atlantic, AT&T, Sizzler, Wilson, Golf Digest, the ESPN,sports network, and Top-Flite golf balls.

[reviewing Avalon (1990) ] Europeans are vertically conformist;,they want to do things as their ancestors did. Americans are,horizontally conformist; we want to do things as our neighbors do. This,process breaks down the richness of ethnic heritage and creates a bland,Middle American who, in a way, is from nowhere--who was invented in TV,commercials.

[on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) ] Do yourself a favor.

[on The Big Easy (1986) ],A corner is important. It provides privacy and an anchor and lets you exist independently of the room.

Of all the purposes of education, I think the most useful is this: It prepares you to keep yourself entertained. It gives you a better chance of an interesting job.

Never marry someone who doesn’t love the movies you love. Sooner or later, that person will not love you.

Sometimes two people will regard each other over a gulf too wide to ever be bridged, and know immediately what could have happened, and that it never will.

We laugh, that we may not cry.

I may appear to suffer from some sort of compulsive repetition syndrome, but these rituals are important to me. I have many places where I sit and think, “I have been here before, I am here now, and I will be here again. ” Sometimes, lost in reverie, I remember myself approaching across the same green, or down the same footpath, in 1962 or 1983, or many other times. Sometimes Chaz comes along on my rituals, but just as often I go alone. Sometimes Chaz will say she’s going shopping, or visiting a friend, or just staying in the room and reading in bed. “Why don’t you go and touch your bases?” she’ll ask me. I know she sympathizes. These secret visits are a way for me to measure the wheel of the years and my passage through life. Sometimes on this voyage through life we need to sit on the deck and regard the waves.

To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers. That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept. But for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.

How quickly we grow accustomed to wonders. I am reminded of the Isaac Asimov story "Nightfall," about the planet where the stars were visible only once in a thousand years. So awesome was the sight that it drove people mad. We who can see the stars every night glance up casually at the cosmos and then quickly down again, searching for a Dairy Queen.

When I write, I fall into the zone many writers, painters, musicians, athletes, and craftsmen of all sorts seem to share: In doing something I enjoy and am expert at, deliberate thought falls aside and it is all just THERE. I think of the next word no more than the composer thinks of the next note.

I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.

A depressing number of people seem to process everything literally. They are to wit as a blind man is to a forest, able to find every tree, but each one coming as a surprise.

Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly.

So much of what happens by chance forms what becomes your life.

All I require of a religion is that it be tolerant of those who do not agree with it.

It’s hard to explain the fun to be found in seeing the right kind of bad movie.

Clouds do not really look like camels or sailing ships or castles in the sky. They are simply a natural process at work. So too, perhaps, are our lives.

Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.

If a movie is really working, you forget for two hours your Social Security number and where your car is parked. You are having a vicarious experience. You are identifying, in one way or another, with the people on the screen.

Every great film should seem new every time you see it.

The movies that are made more thoughtfully or made or with more ambition often get just get drowned out by the noise.

I like smart movies about smart people, and enjoy it when most of the facts are on the table and we can contemplate them together.

Most of us do not consciously look at movies.