CHICAGO (October 12, 2006) — Roger Ebert hopes to be fully recovered in time for the Academy Awards and the Cannes Film Festival. In a letter published Thursday in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic and co-host of the “Ebert & Roeper” TV show says he’s looking forward to getting back to work full time early next year.
“One thing I’ve discovered is that I love my job more than I thought I did, and I love my wife even more!” he wrote.
Ebert had surgery June 16 to remove a cancerous growth on his salivary gland. He also had emergency surgery July 1 after a blood vessel burst.
He had undergone cancer surgery three times before the June operation once in 2002 to remove a malignant tumor on his thyroid gland and twice on his salivary gland the next year.
He announced in the letter that his first movie review in months will run Friday. He decided to review “The Queen” after an “Ebert & Roeper” producer brought him a copy of the movie on DVD. He plans to continuing doing occasional reviews until he’s fully recovered. The 64-year-old Ebert, who’s now at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, thanked fans and colleagues for their support.
He has been a film critic at the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967. He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1975, the same year he teamed up with Gene Siskel of the rival Chicago Tribune to launch their TV show. Siskel died in 1999. Ebert has co-hosted the show with fellow Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper since 2000.
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