Only yesterday, Roger Ebert wrote on his blog that he was “taking a leave of presence” revealing he was again being treated with radiation due to a “painful fracture” that made it difficult for him to walk, which was later revealed to be a cancer. As it turns out, that was the last blog post Roger Ebert would make as the Chicago Sun-Times reports Ebert passed away today at the age of 70 years old.
For any film fan Roger Ebert was the living pinnacle of film criticism and whether you agreed with his opinion or not, if you were looking for an opinion on a film, his was one you would turn to first.
As someone who has been doing this for only ten years, a blip compared to the 46 years Ebert was reviewing movies for the Chicago Sun-Times, I have turned to Ebert quite often. I own all three volumes of his “Great Movies” books and even took to creating a spreadsheet of his “Greatest Films” list so as to always have a list of films I needed to be sure I watched.
It was a pleasure to see him respond in the comments to one of my posts back in 2008 and then to meet him and his wife, Chaz, at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival only to have him remember our conversation.
The world of film will miss him, but he won’t be soon forgotten.
