Roger Ebert

He has been writing about film for over forty years, and in the 1970s he began co-hosting a weekly movie review television show, Siskel & Ebert, with Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune. When Siskel died in 1999, Ebert auditioned several co-hosts on a non-permanent basis (commonly one show). In September, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper became the permanent co-host and the show was renamed Ebert & Roeper.

Every year Ebert publishes a book of movie reviews from that year; he has also published a book of movie clichés and a book of essays about great films, as well as a book of essays about films he hated. Ebert also hosts Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival every year in Champaign, Illinois.

Ebert wrote the screenplay for the 1969 cult film, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, directed by Russ Meyer.

An outspoken opponent of the Motion Picture Association of America, Ebert often strongly condemns the organization in his columns for their regulations regarding which movies are "suitable for children." He also frequently laments that cinemas outside major cities are "booked by computer from Hollywood with no regard for local tastes", making high-quality independent and foreign films virtually unavailable to most moviegoers.

Ebert graduated from the University of Illinois where he was the editor of The Daily Illini.

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