Goodbye, Ebert....

"He's dead, Jim."

It's so sad.  I was reading about him the other day, and how cancer had basically destroyed his face:


http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/roger-ebert-dies-70-following-battle-cancer-194457663.html

Famed movie critic Roger Ebert died Thursday in Chicago after battling cancer. He was 70.

An opinionated writer, but also a movie fan, Ebert reviewed films for the Chicago Sun-Times for 46 years. He was perhaps best known, however, for his 31 years reviewing films on television.

Ebert experienced health problems over the past ten years, suffering illnesses including thyroid cancer and cancer of the salivary gland. In 2006 he lost part of his lower jaw, but -- as his obituary in the Sun-Times points out -- it didn't drive him out of the spotlight.

I remember fondly looking forward to his reviews, and he was almost never off.  If he panned something I knew it was dreck.    And he had the courage to pan hard...the worst from Ebert?  No stars. I loved him for that.

Ironically, for years I never knew what he looked like, having never followed his TV program:

Fresh off the heels of his Pulitzer, Ebert launched his television show -- along with Gene Siskel (who died in 1999) -- the same year he was honored with the esteemed writing award. It started as a local Chicago show, but its popularity eventually pushed it into the national spotlight, making the duo's famed "thumbs up, thumbs down" a household gesture.

 I just knew Ebert = Good Movie Reviews.   The first time I put the two together was reading about his new prosthesis:

Renowned movie critic Roger Ebert returned to the small screen to talk about the big screen over the weekend in the new show "Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies" looking much different than he did the last time he gave one of his famous "thumbs up/thumbs down" ratings several years ago.
Ebert, who lost the lower part of his jaw and his voice box after complications from thyroid and salivary gland cancer, appeared in a segment at the end of the show with his new prosthetic chin and an artificial voice in place of what he lost.

 "Ebert, Ebert," I said to myself,  "That's not the same Ebert who reviews movies, is it?"

Well, of course it was.  Then I felt devastated for him, and glad I hadn't heard about the surgery until after the prosthetic was made.  

But he didn't let cancer stop him from doing what he loved.

Good bye, Mr. Ebert.  You will be missed.