Roger Ebert was born on this day in 1942 in Urbana, Ill. The famed movie reviewer graduated from the University of Illinois in 1964, and just three years later was the chief film critic at the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1975, he managed to win a Pulitzer Prize. His work expanded from there, as he started appearing on the television screen himself.
Ebert starred in a movie review show opposite the Chicago Tribune’s chief film critic, Gene Siskel, where he became famous for his blunt thumbs-up, thumbs-down rating system. At one point, he literally copyrighted the phrase “two thumbs up.” The show, which went by several names including “At the Movies” and “Siskel & Ebert,” won seven Emmy Award nominations and ran for over two decades.
In 2002, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer; he’d been treated for it before, but the disease had been dormant for 15 years. Treatment resulted in the removal of his lower jaw, robbing him of his voice. He retreated from public life until 2007, when he resumed reviewing films through a notebook or electronic voice box. He began blogging in 2008, and returned to television with a weekly show on PBS in 2011. Ebert passed away in 2013.
