Roger Ebert

His top ten films of all time were: The General (1926), Citizen Kane (1941), Tokyo Story (1953), Vertigo (1958), La Dolce Vita (1960), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), Apocalypse Now (1979), Raging Bull (1980) and The Tree of Life (2011).

Said that the first movie he ever saw was A Day at the Races (1937) starring The Marx Brothers.

Once told David Letterman that if he were trapped on a deserted island with only one film to watch, that film would be Citizen Kane (1941).

Attended and graduated from Urbana High School in Urbana, Illinois (1959). Sportswriter at age 15.

Claimed in his original review of Rocky (1976) that Sylvester Stallone was the "next Marlon Brando".

Considered the film I Spit on Your Grave (1978) to be the worst movie he has ever seen, then called its 2010 remake worse.

Police departments across the United States, including the makers of Cops (1989), hold a review at their annual conventions, of actual arrest/cross examine procedure on videotape. It is titled "Fiscal and Deebert", spoofing the critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.

Considered Goodfellas (1990) the best mob movie ever made.

Panned Reservoir Dogs (1992) on his show while praising Cop & ½ (1993).

Hollywood Radio and Television Society's Co-Man of the Year 1993 (with Gene Siskel).

Chicago's Erie Way was renamed Siskel & Ebert Way in 1995.

Author of the "Boulder Pledge" 1996 - a strong statement against spam in response to hearing the fact some people will purchase things advertised via spam. If people don't buy things, there's no reason to send this.

Member of Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame since 1997.

Believed the Academy's biggest mistake was giving Gladiator (2000) the award for 'Best Picture' of the year in 2000.

Shoulder surgery in May 2002 caused him to miss attending Cannes Film Festival for first time in 25 years. Broke left shoulder in two places after slipping on wet floor.

First person ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for film criticism; in 2003, Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post became the second.

He drew criticism when he stated that he considered The Passion of The Christ (2004) to be 'the most violent film I've ever seen'. Many misinterpreted that to mean that he felt that the violence in the film was negative and exploitive (even though he gave the film a glowing review). He stated in his Q and A column that "The effect of movie violence depends on subjective factors, including the purpose the filmmakers had in using it."

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 23, 2005.

Wrote his review of Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006) in first person as Garfield.

As of December 2010, he has twice refused to assign a star rating to a film: once for Pink Flamingos (1972) and once for Human Centipede (2009). In both cases, he explained his reasoning was that a film made to disgust the viewer cannot be judged as "good" or "bad", but either must be accepted for what it is or not at all.