Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert (June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic and journalist who became the most influential cinema critic of his era. Born in Urbana, Illinois, Ebert began his career at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he would spend nearly five decades. In 1975, he became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, establishing his authority in the field. With fellow critic Gene Siskel, he created the groundbreaking television program Siskel & Ebert, which brought film criticism to mainstream audiences and introduced the famous "thumbs up/thumbs down" rating system that became iconic in popular culture. Despite losing his ability to speak following thyroid cancer surgery in 2002, Ebert continued writing prolifically through his blog and social media, demonstrating remarkable resilience. His writing was known for eloquence, accessibility, and passionate engagement with cinema as an art form. Ebert's legacy fundamentally changed how movies are discussed in popular culture, and his reviews remain widely read and respected.