Biography for
Gene Siskel More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

26 January 1946, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Date of Death

20 February 1999, Evanston, Illinois, USA (complication from brain surgery)

Birth Name

Eugene Kal Siskel

Height

6' 3" (1.91 m)

Spouse

Marlene Iglitzen

(1980 - 20 February 1999) (his death) 3 children

Trivia

Interred at Westlawn Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Purchased the white disco suit from Saturday Night Fever (1977) at a charity auction.

Once told David Letterman that if he were trapped on a deserted island with only one film to watch, that film would be 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

The last five movies he reviewed on "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies" (1986) before his death (for the week ending 23 January 1999) were At First Sight (1999), Another Day in Paradise (1998), The Hi-Lo Country (1998), Playing by Heart (1998) and The Theory of Flight (1998). He gave a thumbs up to all of them, except for 'Playing by Heart'.

Considered the film Cannonball Run II (1984) to be the worst movie he had ever seen.

One of his proudest moments was when viewing the Chris Farley-David Spade vehicle Black Sheep (1996), he walked out right before the end for the first time in years. "It was a real high." Later on the show, Roger remarked he wished he had done the same.

Hated nothing worse than trying to watch a movie while a baby in the theatre is crying. Hates any mother who would bring an infant to a movie theatre and is willing to pay $10 to any usher who would chuck the baby out of the theatre along with its negligent mother.

Agreed with long-time colleague Roger Ebert on the best film of 1990 (Goodfellas (1990)) and the worst films of 1980 (Day of the Woman (1978)) and 1994 (North (1994)).

Was one of the few critics to give the Oscar-winning classic masterpiece The Silence of the Lambs (1991) a negative review.

The last review he ever wrote was for the 'Freddie Prinze, Jr.'/'Rachel Leigh Cook' vehicle She's All That (1999). He gave it three stars and a positive review (Roger was against it), and the last line was about Cook's breakthrough performance: "I look forward to seeing her in her next movie."

Grew up in the Chicago North Shore town of Glencoe, Illinois. Graduated from Culver Military Academy (Battery A) in 1963.

The movie Me, Myself & Irene (2000) is dedicated to him.

Of the three At The Movies hosts (Siskel/Ebert/Roeper), he was the only one that wasn't employed by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Was a huge fan of the Chicago Bulls and often covered sports and interviews for local television.

While at Yale, he often dressed as Batman and paid people surprise visits. He was able to keep his identity secret for a week.

Majored in Philosophy at Yale.

His favorite movie of all-time was Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).

In his review for Return of the Jedi, he said he could hardly wait for the next Star Wars movie. Tragically, he died just three months before the release of Episode I.

Just over a year before his death, the special edition 15th Anniversary DVD of "The Thing" (1982) has star Kurt Russell and director John Carpenter use his famous line in the commentary, at the end. "See you at the movies!".

Personal Quotes

I always ask myself, 'Is the movie that I am watching as interesting as a documentary of the same actors having lunch together?'

'Fargo' was the last great film that I saw.

On Daylight (1996): As a measure of my boredom, about halfway through this picture I became distracted by a man down the aisle from from me who was eating some candy, and I tried to guess the candy he was eating by the sounds he was making. Those sounds were more interesting to me than anything going on on the screen in 'Daylight'.

On Rocky (1976): "The best movie of the year? Hardly. Stallone as the next Marlon Brando? You've gotta be kidding. A nice little fantasy picture? Maybe..."

On the French comedy Un indien dans la ville (1994) ("Little Indian, Big City"): If the missing reel had been footage from Orson Welles 'The Magnificent Ambersons,' this whole experience would still have sucked. (When Gene & Roger went to see this movie, the entire third reel was missing. They saw the rest a week later.)

On the 1998 summer blockbuster hit BASEketball (1998): "This is one of those movies that is usually seen on the big jumbo-tron screen in a sports bar during the day - when everyone is quite drunk. Unfortunately, I was sober when I saw this movie."

On the summer comedy Meet the Deedles (1998): "Boy, was this an annoying experience. For the rest of my life, I may have a negative physical reaction whenever anyone mentions the title characters... The gags are pathetic, including the worm-eating... I did not laugh or crack a smile once. Giving this movie a negative review is not merely part of job, it's a public service. You have been warned."

On the 1998 Adam Sandler comedy The Waterboy (1998): "It's junk. And Adam Sandler is annoying. And that irritating phony speech impediment of his that he has throughout this movie... I'm not even going to imitate it, but... is THAT supposed to be funny?"

On the 'Robin Williams' bio-vehicle Patch Adams (1998): "This is an annoying and cloying look and attack on the impersonal way doctors treat their patients. The problem is after seeing a glimse of Williams' personal treatment, we would settle for IMpersonal treatment! I would rather turn my head and cough than see any part of 'Patch Adams' again. The title of this movie should have been 'Punch Adams!'"

I'm in a hurry to get well, because I don't want Roger to get more screen time than I.

On Blade Runner (1982): I felt that this film was a waste of time. Pretty to look at, but a waste of time!

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