The voice of the American mainstream Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert - the author of more than 15 literary works, the famous American film critic and showman, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975. On the continuation of 46 years, he was an indisputable authority for the audience of all social strata and the most demanding critic for filmmakers.

Ebert could afford, disregarding the opinion of his colleagues in the shop, to praise one film, as happened with the "Django", and smash the other, as it happened with the picture "Oz: Great and Dreadful." In the inheritance of mankind after his death, Roger Ebert left a lot of witty quotations and remarkable reviews. His apt expressions are known to every real kinomanov.

Biography

Roger Ebert was born in the provincial town of Erban in Illinois in 1942. The beginning of his professional career is the work of the author-contributor in the newspaper Chicago Sun-Times. Although for the first time the public learned about the perspective criticism in 1969 after the publication of Reader's Digest of his first author's review of the canonical horror film "The Night of the Living Dead".

In 1976, joining forces with Jean Siskel, Ebert decides to try his hand on television, the duo's show first broadcasts in Chicago. He expects tremendous success, so in two years the show is broadcast nationwide. Next, like-minded people, not stopping at what they have achieved, are releasing three more show programs. In 2000, Richard Roper joins them. The three of them shoot the TV program Ebert & Roeper.

A talented person is talented in everything.

Ebert not only wrote reviews for films, he created audio commentaries for the films "Casablanca", "Citizen Kane", "Floating Grass" and "Dark City", which appeared on DVD. Repeatedly Roger acted as a screenwriter. He was the author of screenplays for the films "Outside the valley of the dolls", "Valley of Bliss", "Stand Up!". Virtually none of the Oscar awards ceremony was held without the presence of a film critic.

Ebert's favorite actor (director) was Werner Herzog, it was he who opened the ceremony of laying the personal star of Roger Ebert in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

According to Forbes magazine, in 2007 Roger was recognized as the most authoritative critic of contemporary cinema in America.

Personal life

Roger Ebert married at a rather respectable age - in 50 years. Prior to that, he had for some time been in a relationship with another celebrity - Oprah Winfrey. His official wife was Chaz Hemmel-Smith. Such a late age of marriage the critic explained by respect for his mother, who would be upset after his marriage. Creative life left an imprint on the way of life of Ebert, in the late 70's he became addicted to alcohol, later joined the society of anonymous alcoholics and forever said goodbye to his addiction. A close friend of Roger was a specialist in the field of the history of the film industry and critic Leonard Maltin.

The voice of the American mainstream

Thanks to almost half a century of work on TV, the opinion of Roger Ebert had a solid weight for the average inhabitant. His personality was perceived as the voice of the mainstream of the United States. His impulsive and emotional approach to the evaluation of films appealed to the viewer, although he often got out of the unison of other critical voices. For example, he enthusiastically praised almost all the creations of Alex Proyas, although other experts were more than cynical about his work.

last years of life

In 2002, Roger Ebert suffered several complicated operations due to thyroid cancer. As a result, the critic lost not only a large part of the larynx, vocal cords, but also the lower jaw. Despite the terrible state, he continued the work of his life - writing reviews. Before his death in 2013, the critic released a review of Terrence Malik's new creation of the melodrama "To the Miracle," which was written in a positive vein and published after the author's death. Ebert died on April 4, 2013.