Letters: Roger Ebert

Copyright © 2011 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

MELISSA BLOCK, Host:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.

MICHELE NORRIS, Host:

And I'm Michele Norris. Time now for your letters about one story in particular from yesterday. It was your story, Melissa, about film critic Roger Ebert.

BLOCK: That's right. I visited Roger Ebert at his home in Chicago and it was a very different interview than what we're accustomed to. Here's a part of our conversation.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED AUDIO)

ROGER EBERT: I was advised not to be photographed looking like this. Well, it's how I look and there's nothing I can do about it. We spend too much time as a society denying illness. It's a fact of life.

BLOCK: Roger Ebert has lost the ability to speak after multiple cancer surgeries. He has no lower jaw, so he uses Alex, a text-to-voice program on his computer.

NORRIS: Well, Bill Clark of Columbia, Missouri, offers this note. He says, I heard the interview with Roger Ebert and looked up some recent pictures of him since his surgery for the jaw cancer. I would like to tell him, Roger, I'm 57 and haven't had any surgery, but I'm not always happy with how my face is aging, either. Mr. Clark continues, although your jaw looks different, your eyes still show the warmth and spark of humor that we know so well. Thanks for having the courage to still be in the public eye and inspire the rest of us to keep living life.

BLOCK: And Janet Hess of Washington, DC, found the conversation with Ebert and his wife Chaz enchanting. She says simply, I'm glad to be in a world with them in it.

NORRIS: And we're glad for your letters. Keep writing. Go to NPR.org and click on Contact Us.

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