Ebert graduated from the University of Illinois in 1964, where he wrote and edited for student publications. He studied in South Africa on a Rotary Scholarship after graduating and later went on to the University of Chicago with the plan of earning his doctorate in English. As a student, Ebert also expressed interest in working at the Sun-Times and by April 1967, he was asked to become the paper’s film critic when the previous critic, Eleanor Keen, retired.
He was savvy from the start, calling 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde” with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway “a milestone” and “a landmark.” “Years from now it is quite possible that ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ will be seen as the definitive film of the 1960s,” he wrote in his review.
Aside from his early eye on Google, Ebert also broke character when he wrote the campy 1970 film “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” for sexploitation director Russ Meyer. Ebert’s newspaper editor of the time, James Hoge, made him choose between making films and reviewing them. He chose the latter.
Ebert is survived by his wife Chaz Hammelsmith, step-daughter, and two step-grandchildren.
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