Rest In Peace, Roger Ebert (1942-2013)

The Chicago Sun-Times announced that beloved film critic Roger Ebert has passed away today after an extended battle with cancer. Siskel and Ebert were a big part of my childhood, and Chris Jones of Esquire had the definitive piece on Roger Ebert’s cancer. It may have ravished his body and taken away his physical voice, but his mind and voice carried on through writing.

Here were Ebert’s comments about that Chris Jones’ Esquire piece:

"“Well, we’re all dying in increments. I don’t mind people knowing what I look like, but I don’t want them thinking I’m dying. To be fair, Chris Jones never said I was. If he took a certain elegiac tone, you know what? I might have, too. And if he structured his elements into a story arc, that’s just good writing. He wasn’t precisely an eyewitness the second evening after Chaz had gone off to bed and I was streaming Radio Caroline and writing late into the night. But that’s what I did. It may be, the more interviews you’ve done, the more you appreciate a good one. I knew exactly what he started with, and I could see where he ended, and he can be proud of the piece.”"

Roger Ebert, so much more than a film critic, was 70 years old.

[Update: Here is the Chicago Sun-Times obituary for Roger Ebert]