Eugene "Gene" Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 - February 21, 1999) was, along with partner Roger Ebert, one of the two most famous film critics in the world.
Siskel graduated from Yale University in 1967 and began working for the Chicago Tribune in 1969. In 1974 while doing movie reviews for a local television station doing a show called Sneak Previews , he was teamed up with Roger Ebert. Their "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" system soon became the standard for the profession. The duo eventually created a popular weekly movie review TV show called simply Siskel & Ebert.
In 1998, Siskel underwent brain surgery to remove a brain tumor. He announced on February 3, 1999 that he was taking a leave of absence but that he expected to be back by the fall, writing "I'm in a hurry to get well because I don't want Roger to get more screen time than I." The last film he viewed was the Sarah Michelle Gellar romantic comedy Simply Irresistable .
He died from complications of the surgery two weeks later, at the age of only 53.