Gene Siskel

At 53 years old, Gene Siskel has this physical status:

Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946-1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune.

He co-produced a series of popular movie review shows on television from 1975 to 1999, with colleague Roger Ebert.

Early life

Siskel was born in Chicago and was the son of Ida (née Kalis) and Nathan William Siskel. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. Siskel lost both of his parents as an infant and, as a result, was raised by his aunt and uncle, who were able to move with them when he was nine years old. He attended Culver Academies and graduated from Yale University with a degree in philosophy in 1967, where he studied under Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Hersey. Hersey's reference helped him find a job at the Chicago Tribune in 1969.

Personal life

Siskel married Marlene Iglitzen, who then worked as a producer for CBS in New York, in 1980. Kate and Callie had two children and Will's was born. Their daughters graduated from Yale University, Siskel's alma mater.

On May 8, 1998, Siskel was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He underwent brain surgery three days later. While Ebert was in the studio, he did the Siskel & Ebert show on the telephone (from his hospital bed). After his recuperation, Siskel eventually returned to the studio, but he was described as more lethargic and mellow than average. "I'm in a hurry to get well because I don't want Roger to get more screen time than I did," he announced on February 3, 1999. Siskel died on February 20, 1999 after undergoing brain surgery, and his funeral was held at the North Suburban Synagogue Beth El. He is laid to rest at Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge, Illinois.

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Career

Siskel's first print review, written a month before he became the Tribune's film critic, was for the film Rascal. His verdict was not encouraging ("Because of the excessive gimmicky, most children will miss the tenderness," he wrote). He served in the US Army Reserve prior to this; he was a military journalist and public affairs officer for the Defense Information School. Hugh Hefner, the Playboy magazine publisher, was aware of him for a time after.

In 1986, the Chicago Tribune announced that Siskel was no longer the paper's film critic and that his role as a full-time film critic had been transferred from that of a full-time film critic to that of a freelance contract writer who would write about the film industry for the Sunday newspaper and then give capsule film critiques for the paper's entertainment sections. Siskel and Ebert decided to recast production of their weekly movie review show, now known as Siskel & Ebert), from Tribune Entertainment to The Walt Disney Company's Buena Vista Television unit. "He's done a fantastic job for us," editor James Squires said on the move. It's a question of how much a person can do physically. First and foremost, we suspect you need to be a newspaper person, and Gene Siskel has always attempted to do this. However, there comes a time in your career that a career is so broad that you can't do it." Siskel declined to comment on the new arrangement, but Ebert chastised Siskel for transferring their television show to a different company than Tribune Entertainment. Siskel was in charge of freelance until his death in 1999. Dave Kehr was brought to his role as film critic.

Siskel's last review, which was published in the Chicago Tribune on January 29, 1999, was for the film She's All That, in which he gave it three stars out of four and said that "Rachael Leigh Cook, the plain Jane object of the makeover, is expected to have the most emotional range as a character." I'm looking forward to seeing her in her next film."

Siskel joined with Ebert, a Chicago Sun-Times film critic, to produce a program on local Chicago PBS station WTTW, which later became Sneak Previews. Their "thumbs-down" method soon became a well-known trademark, with comedians such as Second City Television, In Living Color, Bizarre, and Hollywood Shuffle and Godzilla proving it. When WTTW announced Sneak Previews as a series to the PBS program system in 1977, it attracted a national audience.

Siskel and Ebert left WTTW and PBS in 1982 for syndication. Tribune Broadcasting, the parent company of the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV, produced and sold their latest film, At the Movies. Sneak peeks remained on PBS for 14 years with other hosts until it was cancelled in 1996. Siskel and Ebert left Tribune Broadcasting in 1986 to have their show produced by The Walt Disney Company's syndication arm. Siskel & Ebert & the Movies was the first iteration of the film, but Siskel & Ebert was changed to Siskel & Ebert later in life. Before its cancellation in 1990, At the Movies continued for a few years with other hosts.

Siskel interviewed Ebert on the show before his death aired over the weekend of January 23-24, 1999. On the show, they discussed At First Sight, Another Day in Paradise, Playing by Heart, and Flight Theory. Except for Playing by Heart, Siskel gave them thumbs up on all of them.

Following Siskel's death, Ebert continued the series with rotating guest hosts, including Martin Scorsese, Janet Maslin, Peter Bogdanovich, Todd McCarthy, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Kenneth Turan. Elvis Mitchell and Richard Roeper, the eventual replacement for Siskel, Richard Roeper.

Siskel and Ebert were known for their many appearances on late-night talk shows, including appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman sixteen times and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson fifteen times. They appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Arsenio Hall Show, Howard Stern, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Siskel, Ebert, and 1982 appeared on Saturday Night Live as themselves in 1982, 1983, and 1985. For their first two appearances, they reviewed sketches from the "SNL Film Festival"'s telecast and review sketches from the night's film festival.

Siskel and Ebert appeared in a segment on Sesame Street in 1991 (a parody of Sneak Previews). The hosts, Oscar the Grouch and Telly Monster, are shown by the critics how their thumbs up/thumbs down rating scheme works. As Ebert accepts the suggestion, Oscar wonders if there could be a thumbs sideways ratings and then drags the two guys into a discussion about whether or not that will be acceptable, but Siskel does not. In the show's celebrity version of "Monster in the Mirror," the two were also seen the same year.

Siskel appeared as himself in a 1993 episode of The Larry Sanders Show called "Off Camera." His appearance was chosen by Entertainment Weekly as one of the best scenes on television this year.

Siskel and Ebert appeared on an episode of the animated television series "Siskel & Ebert & Alice" in 1995. Siskel and Ebert were divorced, and each wanted protagonist Jay Sherman, a fellow film critic, as his new friend. In Seattle, the episode is a parody of the film Sleepless.

In the 2009 documentary film, For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism, a young appearance of Siskel taken from Opening Soon at a Theater Near You, the predecessor to Sneak Previews. He appears in the film debating the merits of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, as well as Ebert.

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