# Roger Ebert
**Roger Ebert** (1942–2013) was an American film critic who reviewed movies for the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) from 1967 until his death and, in 1975, became the first person to receive a [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for film criticism[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/roger-ebert) • [2](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/roger-ebert) • [3](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/roger-ebert-x70-film-critic-and-longtime-graham-school-lecturer-1942-2013). With fellow critic [Gene Siskel](https://www.edgepedia.org/gene-siskel) he co-hosted a weekly television movie-review program from 1975 until 2006, popularizing the thumbs-up, thumbs-down verdict that made him one of the most widely recognized journalists in the United States[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/roger-ebert) • [4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/ebert-roger-1942).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | Born 1942 in Urbana, Illinois; died of cancer on April 4, 2013, at age 70[3](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/roger-ebert-x70-film-critic-and-longtime-graham-school-lecturer-1942-2013) • [5](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-roger-ebert-20130405-story.html) |
| Newspaper post | Film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967, his professional home for 46 years[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/roger-ebert) • [6](https://time.com/2926433/thumbs-up-for-roger/) |
| Pulitzer Prize | 1975 Prize for Criticism, for his film criticism during 1974 in the Chicago Sun-Times; the first awarded to a film critic[2](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/roger-ebert) • [7](https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmstudies/reviews) |
| Television | Co-hosted a weekly movie review program from 1975 to 2006, first with Gene Siskel (died 1999), then with Richard Roeper[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/roger-ebert) |
| Signature verdict | The thumbs up / thumbs down system, with "Two Thumbs Up" when both critics approved[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/ebert-roger-1942) • [8](https://escholarship.org/content/qt3d59k723/qt3d59k723_noSplash_de57706b13c4ca7f859e04497bf6d271.pdf) |
| Website | Cofounded RogerEbert.com with his wife Chaz Ebert in 2002; the site continues under her leadership[9](https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/author/E/R/au5286943.html) • [10](https://www.rogerebert.com/about) |
| Distinction | The only film critic with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame[11](https://www.ebertfest.com/sites/default/files/2018_Eberfest_Brochure.pdf) |
## Early life and education
Ebert was born in 1942 in [Urbana, Illinois](https://www.edgepedia.org/urbana-illinois), the only child of Walter Ebert, a University of Illinois electrician, and Wanda, a bookkeeper[5](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-roger-ebert-20130405-story.html). His journalism career began early: at 15 he wrote sports for the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, and Encyclopedia.com lists him as a staff reporter there from 1958[12](https://illinimedia.org/alumni/hall-of-fame/2006-2/roger-ebert-2/) • [4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/ebert-roger-1942). As a grade-schooler he had already written, published, and delivered his own neighborhood paper[6](https://time.com/2926433/thumbs-up-for-roger/).
He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and then began doctoral study in English, first at the universities of Illinois, Cape Town, and Chicago, and at the University of Chicago from 1966[13](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/7760/roger-ebert/) • [3](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/roger-ebert-x70-film-critic-and-longtime-graham-school-lecturer-1942-2013). He left doctoral studies when he became a film critic, but he never fully left the university: beginning in 1968 he lectured on film for the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies for 37 years, never repeating a course and covering directors such as [Ingmar Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingmar-bergman), Federico Fellini, François Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and [Billy Wilder](https://www.edgepedia.org/billy-wilder)[3](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/roger-ebert-x70-film-critic-and-longtime-graham-school-lecturer-1942-2013).
## The Chicago Sun-Times and the Pulitzer
In 1967, at 25, Ebert became the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times and held the post for the rest of his life[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/roger-ebert) • [14](https://fileserver-az.core.ac.uk/download/233569786.pdf). In 1975 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for his film criticism during 1974, the first time the prize went to a film critic[2](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/roger-ebert) • [3](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/roger-ebert-x70-film-critic-and-longtime-graham-school-lecturer-1942-2013).
His reviews were grounded in film history. Judy Hoffman, a senior lecturer in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago who knew him, described how "in his reviews, he led you through a continuum of film history... He knew film history, and wrote his reviews with that in mind"[3](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/roger-ebert-x70-film-critic-and-longtime-graham-school-lecturer-1942-2013). He also championed independent films that other critics overlooked; Hoffman credited his support with securing national attention for the documentary *Hoop Dreams*[3](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/roger-ebert-x70-film-critic-and-longtime-graham-school-lecturer-1942-2013).
A scholarly study of his rhetoric found that his writing reached two divergent audiences at once, the average moviegoer and his professional peers, sustaining a pluralistic style that was both popular and populist even as online amateur criticism and aggregated review scores changed the profession[8](https://escholarship.org/content/qt3d59k723/qt3d59k723_noSplash_de57706b13c4ca7f859e04497bf6d271.pdf).
## Television and the thumbs
Ebert's television career began on Chicago public television. He co-hosted *Sneak Previews* (originally titled *Opening Soon at a Theater Near You*) on WTTW with Gene Siskel, then moved through the syndicated programs *At the Movies* (1982–86), *Siskel and Ebert* (1986–99), *Roger Ebert & the Movies* (1999), and *Ebert & Roeper and the Movies* with [Richard Roeper](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-roeper) from 2000[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/ebert-roger-1942). His own site's biography summarizes the run as co-hosting a weekly movie review program on national television from 1975 until 2006[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/roger-ebert). Chicago marked the 50th anniversary of the duo's 1975 debut on WTTW's *Sneak Previews* in 2025[15](https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2025/11/04/celebrating-siskel-ebert-film-series).
The pairing's trademark was the binary thumbs verdict, with the phrase "Two Thumbs Up" used when both critics gave a film a positive review[8](https://escholarship.org/content/qt3d59k723/qt3d59k723_noSplash_de57706b13c4ca7f859e04497bf6d271.pdf). The show's odd-couple dynamic, in Time's account, "helped democratize serious criticism by spotlighting indie films for the mass TV audience," a contribution directors Martin Scorsese, Errol Morris, and [Werner Herzog](https://www.edgepedia.org/werner-herzog) attested to in Steve James's documentary about Ebert[6](https://time.com/2926433/thumbs-up-for-roger/). Ebert himself acknowledged the tension in the format, writing that the "binary thumbs" was another wacky rating system he ran into when he started doing television[16](https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/you-give-out-too-many-stars).
Siskel died in 1999 at 53 of a brain tumor, and Roeper, who had replaced Siskel as co-host, continued with Ebert until the show was renamed *Ebert & Roeper*[6](https://time.com/2926433/thumbs-up-for-roger/) • [17](https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2025/05/29/richard-roeper-roger-ebert-com-sun-times-film-movies).
## Writing and books
Ebert was a prolific author. His books include *The Great Movies*, the annual *Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook*, and *Roger Ebert's Book of Film*, among roughly a dozen others[13](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/7760/roger-ebert/). His interviews and reviews were syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate to about 200 newspapers from 1986[4](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/ebert-roger-1942).
His negative reviews became a genre of their own. Collections such as *I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie* took their titles from his own prose; his 1994 review of *North* opens, "I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie"[18](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/roger-ebert/) • [19](https://time.com/2957019/roger-ebert-life-itself-brutal-reviews/).
## Illness, later years, and death
Ebert was diagnosed with cancer in 2002[19](https://time.com/2957019/roger-ebert-life-itself-brutal-reviews/). He battled cancers of the thyroid and salivary glands and lost his lower jaw, ending his speaking voice; in his last years he communicated through a computer voice and found, in Time's words, "a more eloquent voice on his computer" in blog posts and his 2011 memoir *Life Itself*[6](https://time.com/2926433/thumbs-up-for-roger/). He died of cancer on April 4, 2013, at age 70[3](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/roger-ebert-x70-film-critic-and-longtime-graham-school-lecturer-1942-2013).
## Legacy
RogerEbert.com, which Ebert cofounded with his wife Chaz Ebert in 2002, continues to publish reviews under her leadership with a team of editors including Brian Tallerico, Matt Zoller Seitz, Robert Daniels, Clint Worthington, and Nell Minow, covering major-studio releases, independent and documentary films, and television and streaming series[9](https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/author/E/R/au5286943.html) • [10](https://www.rogerebert.com/about). His *Great Movies* series remains a widely referenced archive of essays on films from around the world[20](https://library.queens.edu/engl110_renfroe/websites).
His home city kept his festival: Roger Ebert's International Film Festival, held in [Champaign, Illinois](https://www.edgepedia.org/champaign-illinois), grew out of his lifelong connection to the University of Illinois[3](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/roger-ebert-x70-film-critic-and-longtime-graham-school-lecturer-1942-2013). Steve James's documentary *Life Itself*, begun as an adaptation of the memoir and filmed in Ebert's final months, was released in 2014[19](https://time.com/2957019/roger-ebert-life-itself-brutal-reviews/). In 2009 Ebert estimated that approximately 100 people in America made their living critiquing film, a figure often cited in discussions of how few full-time critics his profession contained[21](https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu//bitstreams/a718a608-b3fd-4008-b0fd-9d8eab6030f7/download).
## References
1. [Roger Ebert biography & movie reviews, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/roger-ebert)
2. [Roger Ebert, The Pulitzer Prizes](https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/roger-ebert)
3. [Roger Ebert, X'70, film critic and longtime Graham School lecturer, 1942–2013, University of Chicago News](https://news.uchicago.edu/story/roger-ebert-x70-film-critic-and-longtime-graham-school-lecturer-1942-2013)
4. [Ebert, Roger 1942–, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/ebert-roger-1942)
5. [Roger Ebert dies at 70; Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-roger-ebert-20130405-story.html)
6. [Thumbs Up For Roger, Time](https://time.com/2926433/thumbs-up-for-roger/)
7. [Film reviews, Film Studies Research Guide, Dartmouth College](https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmstudies/reviews)
8. [Roger Ebert's Film Criticism, eScholarship](https://escholarship.org/content/qt3d59k723/qt3d59k723_noSplash_de57706b13c4ca7f859e04497bf6d271.pdf)
9. [Roger Ebert, University of Chicago Press](https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/author/E/R/au5286943.html)
10. [About the site, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/about)
11. [Chaz Ebert and The College of Media at Illinois Present, Ebertfest brochure](https://www.ebertfest.com/sites/default/files/2018_Eberfest_Brochure.pdf)
12. [Roger Ebert, Illini Media Hall of Fame](https://illinimedia.org/alumni/hall-of-fame/2006-2/roger-ebert-2/)
13. [Roger Ebert, Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/7760/roger-ebert/)
14. [Everyone's a Critic: Film Criticism Through History and Into the Digital Age](https://fileserver-az.core.ac.uk/download/233569786.pdf)
15. [Celebrating Siskel & Ebert's 1975 debut, Axios Chicago](https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2025/11/04/celebrating-siskel-ebert-film-series)
16. ["You give out too many stars", RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/you-give-out-too-many-stars)
17. [Film critic Richard Roeper finds new role after Sun-Times exit, Axios Chicago](https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2025/05/29/richard-roeper-roger-ebert-com-sun-times-film-movies)
18. [Roger Ebert, Hollywood Star Walk, Los Angeles Times](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/roger-ebert/)
19. [7 of Roger Ebert's Most Brutal Movie Reviews, Time](https://time.com/2957019/roger-ebert-life-itself-brutal-reviews/)
20. [Web Resources, ENG 110, Everett Library, Queens University](https://library.queens.edu/engl110_renfroe/websites)
21. [Chapter I: Introduction, University of Oregon Scholars' Bank](https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu//bitstreams/a718a608-b3fd-4008-b0fd-9d8eab6030f7/download)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Craft crew: cinematographers, editors, composers, critics › Film critics, historians, and scholars: biographies*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license