CHICAGO (AP) — Hollywood actors and Chicago natives John Cusack and Joan Cusack remembered famed film critic Roger Ebert as one of the city’s icons.
The brother and sister spoke Thursday evening at a Chicago memorial for Ebert, who died last week after a long bout with cancer.
Joan Cusack read a letter from President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. The Obamas remembered Ebert as a “cultural leader.”
John Cusack said Ebert was always supportive of artists. Cusack said Ebert “always gave you a fair shake.”
Earlier, Variety film critic Todd McCarthy said a key to Ebert’s success was that he was “neither high-brow nor low brow.”
McCarthy added that in the world of film criticism there was Ebert and “then there was the rest of us.”
