The infamous film critic Roger Ebert popularized the “two thumbs up”-style of reviewing with his late “At the Movies” partner, Gene Siskel who died in 1999.
Ebert died today at the age of 70 after a bout with cancer.
Here are 10 facts you may have not known about Ebert.
1. The award-winning critic began working as the Chicago Sun-Times’ film critic exactly 46 years ago today.
2. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1975. He was the first film critic to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize.
3. In 2004 he was the first film critic ever to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
4. The Director’s Guild of America recognized him with an Honorary Life Member Award.
5. Ebert reviewed more than 200 movies a year for the paper, Chicago Sun-Times’ stating days before his death that he would be taking a leave of presence stating, “At last to do what I’ve always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review,”
6. Ebert was a social media enthusiast and built a huge audience on Facebook and Twitter.
7. The annual film festival Ebertfest (founded in his honor), now in its 15th year, will continue at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, where he went to school.
8. Ebert planned on launching a Kickstarter campaign to bring “At the Movies” back to television. A new version of it was canceled in 2011.
9. Ebert also announced days prior to his death that he would purchase his popular website Rogerebert.com from the Sun-Times’ owners and relaunch the site.
10. He has written more than 15 books, including his annual movie yearbook which is predominantly a collection of his reviews of that year.