Roger Ebert: Pulitzer-Winning Critic Dies

Roger Ebert, the long-time film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, has died at the age of 70.

The newspaper is reporting on its website the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic died on Thursday, one day after he announced he would take a break from writing as he underwent radiation treatment for a recurrence of cancer.

Ebert wrote in his blog on Wednesday: "I am not going away," he added. "My intent is to continue to write selected reviews ... What's more, I'll be able at last to do what I've always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review."

Ebert became famous in the US for his authoritative thumbs-up, thumbs-down movie review TV programme, Siskel & Ebert.

He hosted that show with the late Gene Siskel - a rival critic from the Chicago Tribune - from 1986 until Siskel's 1999 death from complications of a brain tumour.

Ebert had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002 and later cancer of the salivary gland. He lost his chin and the ability to speak as a result of surgery to treat it.

However he eventually resumed writing full-time and eventually even made television appearances.

Ebert started his career as a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967, and in 1975 was the first film reviewer to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for criticism.

His written reviews were syndicated in more then 200 newspapers, and in 2007 Forbes magazine named Ebert the most powerful pundit in America.

News of his death was mourned by fellow critics and others whose lives were touched by his work.

Associated Press movie critic Christy Lemire recalled her one-time boss' ability to make his writing feel deeply personal.

She wrote: "He turned the discussion of films that might've seemed too artsy or intimidatingly intellectual into comfortable conversations. At the same time, he remained capable of walking into a movie - any movie, in any genre - with an open mind after decades as a towering force in this business."

President Barack Obama released a statement on behalf of the first family, saying: "For a generation of Americans - and especially Chicagoans ­- Roger was the movies. When he didn't like a film, he was honest; when he did, he was effusive - capturing the unique power of the movies to take us somewhere magical".

He added: "The movies won't be the same without Roger."