Roger Ebert

Who was Roger Ebert?

Roger Joseph Ebert was an American film critic, journalist, and screenwriter. He was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert was the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. As of 2010, his reviews were syndicated to more than 200 newspapers in the United States and abroad. Ebert also published more than 20 books and dozens of collections of reviews.

Ebert and Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel helped popularize nationally-televised film reviewing when they co-hosted the PBS show Sneak Previews, followed by several variously-named At the Movies programs. The two verbally sparred and traded humorous barbs while discussing films. They created and trademarked the phrase "Two Thumbs Up," used when both hosts gave the same film a positive review. After Siskel died in 1999, Ebert continued hosting the show with various co-hosts and then, starting in 2000, with Richard Roeper.

In 2005, Ebert became the first film critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.