Eugene "Gene" Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946–February 20, 1999) was an American film critic. Alongside colleague Roger Ebert, he pioneered the classic review show Siskel & Ebert at the Movies.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Siskel attended Culver Academies, graduated in Philosophy at Yale University in 1967, where he studied writing under Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Hersey, who helped him land a job at the Chicago Tribune in 1969. In 1975, Siske...
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Eugene "Gene" Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946–February 20, 1999) was an American film critic. Alongside colleague Roger Ebert, he pioneered the classic review show Siskel & Ebert at the Movies.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Siskel attended Culver Academies, graduated in Philosophy at Yale University in 1967, where he studied writing under Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Hersey, who helped him land a job at the Chicago Tribune in 1969. In 1975, Siskel teamed up with Roger Ebert, film reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times, to host a show on the local Chicago PBS station WTTW which eventually became Sneak Previews. Their "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" system soon became an easily recognizable trademark, popular enough to be parodied on comedy shows such as In Living Color and in movies such as Hollywood Shuffle and Godzilla. Sneak Previews gained a nationwide audience in 1978 when it was carried on PBS.
Siskel and Ebert left WTTW and PBS in 1982 for syndication. Their new show, At the Movies was...
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