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Roger Ebert was born on the exact same day as musician Paul McCartney.
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He began as a sportswriter at the age of fifteen.
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He attended the University of Chicago.
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He was drafted into the Vietnam War, but he was rejected due to being overweight.
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He made his feature film writing debut with Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
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He was involved in a relationship with Oprah Winfrey in the 1970s.
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He married his wife, Chaz Hammelsmith, on July 18, 1992.
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He was inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 1997.
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He helped to raise money for The Gene Siskel Theatre.
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He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on June 23, 2005. It's located at 6834 Hollywood Blvd.
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Rob Schneider sent him a bouqet of flowers with a note reading, "Your Least Favorite Movie Star, Rob Schneider", after Ebert said his film Duece Bigalow: European Gigolo "sucked."
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He is a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. He began working for them in 1966.
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His favorite film is Citizen Kane. He has said I Spit on Your Grave is the worst movie he's ever seen.
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He has been nominated for an Emmy Award 7 times.
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He has released the following books:
-The Great Movies
-The Great Movies II
-Your Movie Sucks
-I Hated, Hates, Hated This Movie
-Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert
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He has done audio commentary tracks for the following movies on DVD:
-Citizen Kane
-Casablanca
-Dark City
-Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
-Crumb
-Floating Weeds
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For six months, following the death of his Siskel & Ebert co-host, Gene Siskel, he kept his name in the show opening to honor him. It was changed to Roger Ebert & the Movies when the new season began the following September.
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He had a feud with actor/director Vincent Gallo after giving a negative review to Gallo's unfinished film The Brown Bunny. Following this Vincent Gallo had said he placed a curse on Ebert's colon. When Gallo released the finished version of The Brown Bunny Ebert gave it an enthusiastic Thumbs Up.
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Roger went to high school with David Ogden Stiers.
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Roger has claimed that he has seen over 10,000 movies.
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Roger has no brothers or sisters.
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Roger has one step-daughter.
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Roger's hobbies include sketching, cosmology, and walking.
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Roger's favorite actress is Ingrid Bergman, Robert Mitchum is his favorite actor.
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In 1975, Robert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
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Roger is 5' 8" (1.73 m)
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Erie Way in Chicago was renamed Siskel & Ebert Way in 1995.
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Holds an annual festival titled Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival at the University of Illinois.
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Started his movie critic review career in 1967.
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Has written the screenplays for three Russ Meyer movies: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Up! and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens. He was credited as Reinhold Timme in Up! and R. Hyde in Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens.
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Is married to Chaz Hammelsmith Ebert, a defense attorney in Chicago.