Legendary film critic Roger Ebert has died today as the result of his long battle with cancer. Ebert had just yesterday posted to his website that he was taking a leave of absence due to a recurrence of his cancer. However, there was nothing in Ebert’s post which indicated he was close to death. He, in fact, seemed optimistic.
Ebert is most known for his television shows At The Movies and Siskel & Ebert, alongside original co-host Gene Siskel, as well as follow-up shows with Siskel’s post-death replacement, Richard Roeper. Clips from these shows are available in a surprising abundance through YouTube. In 2002, Ebert was first diagnosed with a cancer, which ultimately robbed him of his voice and lower jaw. However, up until the end he remained as vigilant as ever with his written reviews, with a record 306 reviews published in 2012.
The film community has just lost one of its most respected voices. We are still processing this incredibly sad news, as we probably learned as much about writing about film from Roger Ebert as we did from our collegiate film classes. We will have a remembrance and celebration of Roger Ebert up on the site shortly.
