Roger Ebert passes away at 70, check out memorable comments on George Lucas, Rob Schneider and Crocodile Dundee

Movie critic Roger Ebert has died at 70, according to the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper.

It is with a heavy heart we report that legendary film critic Roger Ebert (@ebertchicago) has passed away

— Suntimes (@Suntimes) April 4, 2013

Earlier this week, Ebert announced he was taking a “leave of presence” from his film reviews because of a recurrence of cancer.

In his blog, Ebert said he’s written 306 movie reviews, a blog post or two a week, and assorted other articles over the past year — the most of his career — and he must “slow down now.” 

Ebert said a “painful fracture” in his hip that made it difficult for him to walk was revealed to be cancer, but he took the news in stride. 

“So on bad days I may write about the vulnerability that accompanies illness. On good days, I may wax ecstatic about a movie so good it transports me beyond illness,” he said.

In 1999 Siskel died after a quiet battle against complications that arose after a growth was removed from his brain 10 months earlier. He was only 53-years-old.

“I remember after we first started out,” Ebert recalled at the time, “and we were on a talk show and this old actor Buddy Rogers said to us, `The trouble with you guys is that you have a sibling rivalry.’ We did. He was like a brother, and I loved him that way.”

“If he’s going to persist in making bad movies, he’s going to have to grow accustomed to reading bad reviews.” — referring to Rob Schneider in “Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo.”

“To say that George Lucas cannot write a love scene is an understatement; greeting cards have expressed more passion.”

“Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.”

“I’ve seen audits that were more thrilling.” — referring to “Crocodile Dundee II.”

“I stopped taking notes on my Palm Pilot and started playing the little chess game.” — referring to “Masterminds.”

 Photo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FCVlQ_5aSI&feature=player_embedded

Remember Gene Siskel passing away – here