Roger Ebert Taking Baby Steps Towards Full Recovery

Roger Ebert has published his first review in months, for Oscar contender The Queen, and announced his plans to work his way towards rejoining Ebert & Roeper, as well as covering the Oscars and Cannes. From an open letter published on his site:

A few more recent movies also will be reviewed, but I won’t be back to full production until sometime early next year. The good news is that my rehabilitation is a profound education in the realities of the daily lives we lead, and my mind is still capable of being delighted by cinematic greatness.

I plan to have my Overlooked Film Festival again in April, and cover the Academy Awards and Cannes. I can’t wait to be back in the Sun-Times on a full-time basis, and to rejoin Richard Roeper in the “Ebert & Roeper” balcony. Dr. Harold Pelzer and Dr. Neil Fine of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and my personal physician, Dr. Robert Havey, also of Northwestern, assure me I will eventually walk, talk, taste, eat, drink and live, more or less, normally.

Ebert has been recovering from surgery for salivary cancer since June. He said that friends and colleagues have kept him informed, and an Ebert & Roeper producer recently installed a plasma tv and DVD player in his room, although of late he’s taken to reading classic novels, adding “I prefer to see the new Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood films on a big screen.”

tedzee | Permalink | October 13 2006 | Comments (View)