President Barack Obama on Roger Ebert's Death [VIDEO]
President Barack Obama issued a statement on Thursday expressing his sadness about the death of actor Roger Ebert.
"For a generation of Americans -- and especially Chicagoans -- Roger was the movies," Obama said of the legendary critic and fellow Chicagoan. "When he didn't like a film, he was honest; when he did, he was effusive... The movies won't be the same without Roger, and our thoughts and prayers are with Chaz and the rest of the Ebert family."
Ebert was diagnosed with thyroid cancer 11 years ago. The actor had told his co-workers at the Chicago Sun Times earlier this week that he was planning to cut his work hours because the cancer had returned. He was 70.
The Chicago Sun Times, where Mr. Ebert worked for years, announced his death Thursday. The Washington Times stated that through operations on his thyroid, salivary glands and chin - and even after losing the ability to eat, drink and speak - Ebert continued to write reviews and even published a cookbook on meals that could be made with a rice cooker.
"When I am writing, my problems become invisible, and I am the same person I always was," he told Esquire magazine in 2010. "All is well. I am as I should be."
