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Eugene "Gene" Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was one of the world's most successful film critics. Along with on-screen partner Roger Ebert, they pioneered a popular weekly movie review TV show until Siskel's death at age 53.

Biography

Born in Chicago, Gene Siskel graduated from Yale University in 1967 and began working for the Chicago Tribune in 1969. In 1974 while doing movie reviews for a local television station, Siskel starting hosting a show called Sneak Previews, where he was teamed up with Roger Ebert. Their "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" system soon became an easily recognizable trademark, widely popular enough to be parodied on comedy shows such as In Living Color and in movies such as Hollywood Shuffle and Godzilla. Sneak Previews gained a nationwide audience in 1978 when it was carried on PBS.

Siskel and Ebert left PBS in 1982 for syndication. Sneak Previews, the name of the PBS show, was owned by WTTW in Chicago, so the syndicated show was originally dubbed At The Movies and renamed Siskel & Ebert in 1986.

In 1998, Siskel underwent brain surgery to remove a brain tumor. He announced on February 3, 1999 that he was taking a leave of absence but that he expected to be back by the fall, writing "I'm in a hurry to get well because I don't want Roger to get more screen time than I." The last film he viewed was the Sarah Michelle Gellar romantic comedy Simply Irresistible.

He died from complications of the surgery two weeks later, at the age of 53. After Siskel's death, the producers of the show he formerly co-hosted hired other film critics and began using them on a rotating basis as an audition for a permanent successor. Ultimately, Ebert's Chicago Sun-Times colleague Richard Roeper was hired and the show was renamed Ebert & Roeper.

Siskel is survived by his wife, Marlene, and their children, Kate, Callie, and Will.

Quotes

• "I always ask myself, 'Is the movie that I am watching as interesting as a documentary of the same actors having lunch together?'"

—Oft-cited question used by Siskel as a yardstick by which one could gauge a movie's quality.

Trivia

• Siskel's favorite film was Saturday Night Fever, which he claimed to have seen 17 times. He liked the movie so much, he bought the famous white disco suit (worn by John Travolta in the movie) at a charity auction.

• The 1995 Chris Farley film Black Sheep was the first and only movie, Siskel claimed, that caused him to walk out of the theater while viewing.[1]

• Siskel hated nothing more than to have a baby crying while trying to view a movie. He said he would pay any usher $10 to remove the baby and its parent from the theater.

See also

• List of notable brain tumor patients

External links

• Official website
• Gene Siskel at NNDB
• Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, named in memoriam

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