Film critic Ebert gifts $1M US to his alma mater http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2009/04/23/ebert-gift-almamater.html
Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert received two big thumbs-up at the opening of his annual film fest in Champaign, Ill., on Thursday night when it was announced he and his wife Chaz have donated $1 million US to his alma mater, the University of Illinois. "This latest gift [from the Eberts] and their vision exceed anything we could have imagined, and for that and so much more we are forever grateful to them," chancellor Richard Herman said on the university's website. The gift from the Chicago Sun-Times critic, known for his "thumbs-up" and "thumbs-down" reviews, and his online list of the year's best movies, will go to create the Roger Ebert Program for Film Studies Fund. The university's College of Media stages the annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival, also known as Ebertfest. The college is formalizing arrangements to launch the Department of Media and Cinema Studies, and when the principal of the Eberts' fund reaches $5 million US, it will become the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies within the new department. "The University of Illinois is deep in my heart as a great institution," Ebert, 66, said in a statement. "It informed and enriched me. Although there were no film courses when I was an undergraduate, it nevertheless guided me in my lifelong love of film." This is Ebert's third gift to the university. In 2001, he donated 22 cubic feet (.6 cubic metres) of videotapes of Sneak Previews and Siskel and Ebert at the Movies. In 2004, he said he would leave his papers to the university's library. Ebert grew up in nearby Urbana, Ill., and graduated from the University of Illinois in 1964, where he worked on the student newspaper, the Daily Illini. He became the Sun-Times' film critic in 1967. Earlier on Thursday, Urbana officials honoured Ebert by placing a bronze plaque on the sidewalk in front the building where Ebert lived with his parents from his birth in 1942 until 1961. Ebert was host of the TV show At the Movies, first with the late Gene Siskel and later with Richard Roeper. Ebert gave up the show after he lost his voice during surgery to treat cancer. He was the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1975. In January, he became an honorary life member of the Directors Guild of America. The 11th annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival runs through Sunday at the historic Virginia Theatre in Champaign. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
