Thumbs up or thumbs down -- he trademarked that phrase. He is
Roger Ebert, the nation's first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize.
His columns in the Chicago Sun-Times and TV shows, first
with Gene Siskel and now with Richard Roeper, have earned him
another first: he is the first critic of any kind to be awarded a
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Ebert's honor not only recognizes his enormous contributions to the world of cinema but also toasts the 30th anniversary of his groundbreaking television show, which was launched as Siskel & Ebert and continues today as Ebert & Roeper," co-hosted with his Sun-Times colleague Richard Roeper.
Before the unveiling of his star to the hundreds of fans and members of the media gathered on Hollywood Boulevard, Ebert stepped to the podium and thanked his wife, Chaz, other family members and a legion of Chicago friends who had traveled to Los Angeles for the ceremony. He then quickly explained the core reason that he cherished films and the art of cinema.
"When we are born, we are placed into a specific box, in a certain space and time," Ebert said. In his opinion, film is the one art form that most easily enables people to escape their own reality, "imagining what it is to live somebody else's life -- to be a different gender, live in a different time, to live in a different economic class.
It is a truly liberalizing experience and makes people broader-minded as film makes it possible for them not to be just stuck being [themselves] day after day."
"Roger has been so instrumental in helping the world of independent filmmakers find an audience," said Virginia Madsen. "Filmmakers from all over the world anxiously await to hear what Roger thinks of their films. When [her Oscar-nominated] Sideways was first shown in Toronto [at the annual film festival], he was immediately a big supporter -- and that helped build the momentum for that film."
It's always nice when Hollywood recognized writers.
