“Tricky disco dance moves” got film critic there, wife jokes

Dec 7, 2012 12:33 GMT  ·  By
Film critic Roger Ebert has been hospitalized for hip fracture but won’t require surgery
   Film critic Roger Ebert has been hospitalized for hip fracture but won’t require surgery

Roger Ebert, one of the most esteemed film critics ever, has been hospitalized for hip fracture, his wife Chaz Ebert has confirmed on Twitter.

Ebert is known not only for his film reviews, which manage to be impartial and fun at the same time, but also for the fact that he is a cancer survivor, a terrible disease which has cost him his voice and his jaw.

This explains why word that he was rushed to the hospital spread online like fire, getting fans worried and thinking of the worst.

There is no need to worry, Chaz writes on her Twitter page: Roger overdid it with the dance moves, that’s all, she jokes.

“Roger in hospital with hip fracture (tricky disco dance moves) but he is doing well, asking for computer, will probably tweet,” Chaz says.

Indeed, Roger did tweet shortly afterwards. “Yes, fracture. But no surgery needed. Details follow. :),” he wrote.

Ebert is yet to offer more details, but Chaz has said for several media outlets that doctors are still looking into his condition for a proper diagnosis. No one knows when he will be discharged.

As noted above, Roger is also very beloved by his readers (and not only) because of the amazingly brave way in which he battled thyroid cancer, with which he was diagnosed in 2002.

After several interventions, he eventually lost his jaw and, with it, his ability to speak.

Even though mute and no longer able to feed on solids, Ebert has managed to remain one of the most active film critics in the industry: these days, he “speaks” with paper and pen, on his computer, in his work, on Twitter, or using a text-to-speech application that even uses old recordings of his voice, just so he can feel like he’s whole again.

Last year, Ebert received a prosthetic chin which, he said, “would pass muster at a certain distance” but was not meant to fool anyone.