![]() purchased the program, the two critics doubled their salaries. In 1982, the pair earned $500,000 each for the season. While the show's popularity certainly fattened the wallets of the two critics, it wasn't until the early 1980s that the program began to make them rich. Three years later, PBS, which had secured the rights to the program, brought the show to 180 markets. By the end of its first season, the program was showcased on more than 100 public television stations. The show, initially titled Opening Soon at a Theater Near You, first aired in September 1975 and proved to be an immediate success. So was Gene Siskel, a movie critic for the Chicago Tribune, whose more reserved, less bombastic style clashed nicely with Ebert's more outgoing flair. The idea seemed like a novelty at the time: bring together two highly charged film critics from competing newspapers and let them air out their opinions each week for the cameras.Įbert was an obvious choice. In 1975, he became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize, and was approached by a local television producer about bringing his work to the world of television. By the mid-1970s, Ebert was already entrenched as a highly regarded movie critic and magazine writer. Move to TelevisionĪs he had in school, Ebert soon developed a reputation at the paper as a hard worker and fast writer, someone whose quick mind and quicker typing skills drew the envy of his colleagues. ![]() Certainly his bosses didn't sense anything his appointment was buried on page 57 of the paper's Apedition. "We have been treated to a parade of young French girls running gaily toward the camera in slow motion," he wrote, "their hair waving in the wind in just such a way that we know immediately they are liberated, carefree, jolly and doomed." It's doubtful anyone could have predicted the prestige and longevity Ebert would bring to the position. On his very first day at his new job, he gave readers a look at the French film Galia, using the film to advance his overall opinion about the entire genre of French "New Wave" movies. From the get-go, Ebert demonstrated an energized gusto for writing about film that few could match. Six months later, after the paper's society reporter died, the green reporter was tapped to become the paper's new film critic. Film CriticĮbert's decision paid off in 1966, when he was hired to write for the Chicago Sun-Times' Sunday magazine. in English at the University of Chicago, but soon abandoned the dream to write full-time. After receiving his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Ebert pursued a Ph.D. Ebert quickly rose in the ranks at the school's paper, The Daily Illini, earning the role of editor in chief by his senior year, in 1964. Shortly after he began attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in 1960, Ebert's father died of lung cancer. He captured first place in the Illinois Associated Press sports writing contest his senior year, beating out a whole crop of much more seasoned reporters. To earn extra money, he also wrote for The News-Gazette in Champaign, Illinois, where his style and talent were on full display. In high school, Ebert edited the school's paper and developed his own science-fiction fanzine. He also adored newspapers and books and, at an early age, was writing and publishing his own local paper, the Washington Street Times, which he named after the street he lived on. ![]() As a child, Roger Ebert loved to write, and thanks to a close relationship with his aunt Martha, he developed an appreciation for movies. His father was an electrician who earned enough to keep his family out of hard times, but was determined to see that his son carve out a bigger future for himself. With their popular syndicated show, Siskel and Ebert became almost as celebrated and famous as the movies and movie stars they covered.Įbert, the only child of Annabel and Walter Ebert, came from a modest background. Ebert, along with his longtime television partner Gene Siskel, was perhaps the most noted movie critic in film history. Writer and film critic Roger Joseph Ebert was born on June 18, 1942, in Urbana, Illinois. Ebert died on April 4, 2013, at age 70, in Chicago, Illinois. They worked together until 1999 when Siskel passed away. The show proved a hit, and Siskel and Ebert became household names. That same year Ebert teamed up with fellow movie critic Gene Siskel on a television show where they debated the quality of the latest films. In 1975, he became the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize. His career began in 1966, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times' Sunday magazine.
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