Some sad news comes this morning from Roger Ebert, the acclaimed film critic, C-U native and U of I alum, who has revealed his relapse of cancer. According to his column on the Sun-Times blog, he writes about his workload over the past year and all of his projects, but addresses his health:
Of course, there will be some changes. The immediate reason for my “leave of presence” is my health. The “painful fracture” that made it difficult for me to walk has recently been revealed to be a cancer. It is being treated with radiation, which has made it impossible for me to attend as many movies as I used to. I have been watching more of them on screener copies that the studios have been kind enough to send to me. My friend and colleague Richard Roeper and other critics have stepped up and kept the newspaper and website current with reviews of all the major releases. So we have and will continue to go on.
Roger Ebert’s Film Festival is right around the corner here in Ebert’s hometown from April 17-21 at the Virginia Theater. You can read the whole column over at the website linked above.