Roger Ebert: Career in pictures
Roger Ebert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic, died on Thursday at age 70. He had battled cancer on and off for the final decade of his life. Ebert lost his jaw and his ability to speak following a surgery to remove cancerous tissue in 2006, but for the final few years of his life, he continued to connect with his readership through prolific use of social media and his blog. (Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)
Roger Ebert gave independent films popular appeal, and his ‘thumbs-up, thumbs-down’ ratings on TV were both coveted and scorned. The prolific critic continued to write reviews while battling cancer in recent years.
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After Siskel died in 1999 following complications from a surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor, Ebert continued the show with a rotating series of guest critics, before pairing permanently with fellow Chicago journalist Richard Roeper in 2000. When Ebert underwent his own cancer surgery in 2006, Roeper continued to host the show for two more years with a variety of guest critics. (Fred Jewell / Associated Press)
Despite his fame as a TV personality, Ebert never let his duties as a newspaper film critic waver. He continued to publish hundreds of reviews a year and wrote several books, including his memoir, “Life Itself,” in 2011. Ebert won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1975. (David Livingston / Getty Images)
In 2005, Ebert was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was the first film critic to be awarded the honor. Here, he is with Richard Roeper. (Ric Francis / Associated Press)
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In 1999, Ebert began what has become an annual film festival at his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The festival, which was originally called “Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival,” is now just called “Ebertfest.” While Ebert himself originally hosted the post-screening Q&As, the job was given to a variety of people following Ebert’s loss of voice. (Seth Perlman / Associated Press)
Ebert gave few TV appearances following his jaw surgery in 2006, but he continued to write and tweet and began discussing more than film. In his blog posts, he tackled art, food, religion and politics. As a result of his increased online presence, he attracted a new generation of readers and fans and won the Person of the Year Award at the 14th annual Webby Awards in 2010. (Charles Sykes / Associated Press)