My grandfather’s (and millions of other’s) favorite movie critic, Roger Ebert is in serious condition tonight. A Chicago newspaper is reporting that the 64-year-old is recovering from emergency surgery to repair complications from a previous operation he underwent to treat his cancer.
Ebert had surgery less than a month ago to remove a cancerous growth on his salivary gland. Following his surgery, Ebert made announced that the condition “was not life threatening” and he expected to make a full recovery. But then Saturday night (July 1st), the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Ebert suffered a major setback—“a blood vessel burst near the site of the operation,” forcing him to undergo yet another operation. According to the Chicago paper, the popular film critic has undergone cancer surgery three times before – once in 2002 to remove a malignant tumor on his thyroid gland and twice on his salivary gland the next year.
Ebert has been a film critic at the Chicago Sun-Times for nearly 40 years and won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1975. That same year he paired up with Gene Siskel from rival newspaper, Chicago Tribune to launch their movie-review show, “Siskel and Ebert.” It was their trademark “two thumbs up” recommendation that helped make them household names. (The pair had the phrase trademarked to ensure it wouldn’t be used fraudulently and jeopardize their credibility.) In 1999, Siskel died as a result of complications ensuing from brain surgery. In 2000, Ebert named fellow Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper as his new permanent co-host.
On Sunday it was Roeper who reported that Ebert’s vital signs appeared to be good after his hours-long operation. My mother is a cancer survivor and hearing that anyone battling the disease (let alone a man who has been a fixture in my grandparent’s living room for nearly four decades) has suffered a setback is disheartening (to say the least). In the meantime, there is no word yet on what will happen to the review show while Ebert recovers.