Chaz Ebert signals to her late husband Roger prior to the showing of "Life Itself" a documentary of film critic Roger Ebert's life, that opened the 16th Annual Roger Ebert Film Festival at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, Ill on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. (AP Photo/The News-Gazette, Robin Scholz) MANDATORY CREDIT
April 23, 2014 - 10:34 PM
CHICAGO - A life-sized bronze statue of esteemed movie critic Roger Ebert will be unveiled outside the central Illinois theatre that hosts the annual film festival he started, "Ebertfest."
The statue of Ebert sitting between two empty theatre seats where visitors can sit will be unveiled during a ceremony later Thursday. It will remain outside the Virginia Theater in Champaign during this year's festival, which ends Sunday. Those who commissioned it hope to have it permanently installed this summer.
Ebert's wife, Chaz Ebert, says her husband would have felt honoured that the statue was built, but embarrassed because he was modest.
The longtime Chicago Sun-Times critic and TV personality died last April after a long battle with cancer. He was 70.
News from © The Associated Press, 2014