Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was interviewed for one-and-a-half hours in Chicago, IL. Ebert spoke about his interest in the movies while growing up and his work as a youth, freelance writing on various publications up through his college years.  He talked about joining the Chicago Sun-Times in 1966 and being named the paper’s film critic in early 1967, a post that eventually earned him the first Pulitizer Prize given for film criticism.  He briefly talked about his early experiences on television before he was teamed with Gene Siskel on the local WTTW movie review series Opening Soon at a Theatre Near You.  Ebert noted the many incarnations of the show, which went national on PBS and then was nationally syndicated, becoming the familiar Siskel & Ebert.  He talked about working with his longtime colleague and sometime rival Gene Siskel, who co-hosted the show until his death in February 1999.  Ebert described the transitional period that followed until Richard Roeper was offered the job “across the aisle” from him on the renamed Ebert & Roeper in July 2000.  Ebert talked about various aspects of the series including the thumbs up/ thumbs down grading system, the use of movie clips on the show, and the impact the show has had on the movies.  Throughout the interview, Ebert showed his passion for the movies and his respect for them as an art form.  The interview was conducted by Gary Rutkowski on November 2, 2005.