Roger Ebert’s favourite actor and actress
The name Roger Ebert should ring true in the ears of any budding film journalist. The Urbana, Illinois-born writer was a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 right up until his death in 2013. Ebert’s writing was so influential that he became the first ever film critic to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Over the years, Ebert wrote about all different kinds of film genres and movements in his trademark intimate style. The beauty of Ebert’s work was that it made the often difficult-to-penetrate form of critical analysis more accessible to a lay audience while still containing excellent technique and wide-ranging knowledge of the history of cinema.
When it comes to Ebert’s favourite film stars, it appears that he had two clear frontrunners. His favourite actor is undoubtedly Robert Mitchum, who was known for his roles as anti-hero characters and for his performances in some of the greatest film noir movies ever released.
Mitchum came to the public attention with 1945’s The Story of G.I. Joe, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. Amongst his best-known films are movies such as Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, River of No Return, Thunder Road, Cape Fear and El Dorado.
Ebert once said of Mitchum: “Robert Mitchum was my favourite movie star because he represented, for me, the impenetrable mystery of the movies. He knew the inside story. With his deep, laconic voice and his long face and those famous weary eyes, he was the kind of guy you’d picture in a saloon at closing time, waiting for someone to walk in through the door and break his heart.”
As for Ebert’s favourite actress, he held a profound respect for Ingrid Bergman. The Swedish film star performed in a number of critically respected European and American films across her career. Her talent was so vast that Bergman was awarded three Academy Awards, making her one of only four actresses to have as many.
Hailing from Sweden, Bergman performed in several Swedish and German films in the early part of her career, but her performance in 1939’s Intermezzo introduced her to the United States audience. She then famously starred opposite Humphrey Bogart in 1942’s Casablanca before going on to feature in films such as For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gaslight and Joan of Arc.
In Ebert’s review of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 film Notorious, he wrote that it, alongside Casablanca, would ensure Bergman’s “immortality” in the pantheon of all-time great actresses. “The choice of Ingrid Bergman for the role was ideal,” Ebert said, “she subtly combined the noble and the carnal”.
