Roger Ebert In L:ast Stage Of Cancer

Start again following a terrible setback is one of the hardest things a person can do. But that is exactly what a well-known writer and TV personality has. . . with remarkable good humor. Cynthia Bowers has paid a visit:

It has been called the U.S. critical film. For over four decades, Roger Ebert has guided our decisions at the box office.
His syndicated newspaper column and check "thumbs up and thumbs down" routine with TV partner Gene Siskel were legendary.
But now that the famous voice has been silenced.
"Do you remember what his words were last?" Bowers asked.
"No, because I knew it would be my last word, or I would have written something great," said Ebert.
During the past three years, Ebert has been speaking through a computer voice that speaks what types.
His jaw is gone, ravaged by cancer that almost killed him.
"Are you able to talk in your sleep?" Bowers asked.
"All is well in my dreams. I talk all I want. Life is normal," he said. "Sometimes in a dream that I can not really remember, but suddenly I can talk again."
Ebert certainly could never have dreamed this story of his life when he started in the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967. Its elegant and quick wit made her a must-read movie reviews.
What makes a great movie with Roger Ebert?
"Sorry," he replied. "I am delighted by his greatness. When we experience, sometimes even feel a tingle in my spine. Honestly, is an almost spiritual feeling."
Ebert won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975 for film criticism. Soon he ventured into television, teaming with rival critic Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune.
"At first, not speaking," says Ebert. "Then we talked, but we fought hard. Our rivalry was real. But the whole time we were becoming best friends and best. We were like brothers."
And he fought like brothers on the screen. Their bitter arguments and thumbs up, thumbs down "rating system made them famous.
"I got the idea the thumbs, which had never been used before to review the movies," Ebert said. "We were the first. Trademarking them was the idea of Gene."
Siskel and Ebert were a staple in homes across the country during the 80 and 90. But in 1999 the association had a sad ending when Gene Siskel died of brain cancer.
"He taped his last show just a few weeks before his death," Ebert said. "It must have been in pain, but he never complained once."
"Did you miss?" Bowers asked.
"I really miss him every day," he replied.
Only three years after Siskel died, Roger Ebert gave it its own devastating diagnosis of cancer of the thyroid and salivary gland then.
He was fighting for his life. But he was not alone.