According to organizers, Ebert is the first critic ever to receive a star on the storied walk. His entry sits in front of the El Capitan Theatre and across the street from the Kodak Theatre, which hosts the annual Academy Awards.
"This is a wonderful day for me," the 65-year-old critic told the hundreds of people gathered at the unveiling ceremony Thursday.
Ebert spoke to the audience about his view that film is the easiest and most accessible way for people to escape their daily lives.
Film critic Roger Ebert after his star was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Los Angeles, Thursday, June 23. (AP photo)
Watching movies is "a truly liberalizing experience," he said. "When I watch movies, I can feel what it's like to walk in another person's shoes."
Director Werner Herzog and two Chicago actors, Virginia Madsen and Joe Mantegna, were among the family, friends and fans on hand for the ceremony.
Ebert began his career as a sports writer at the age of 15. He joined the Chicago Sun-Times in 1966 and, six months after he began, was named its film critic. In 1975, he won a Pulitzer Prize for arts criticism.
Later that year, he teamed up with Gene Siskel, the film critic for the Chicago Tribune, on Sneak Previews, a TV show reviewing new movies. The production would eventually evolve into the famed Siskel & Ebert & the Movies, which gave birth to the "thumbs up, thumbs down" rating system for film. Siskel died in 1999 and Ebert continued with new co-host Richard Roeper.
The author of 17 books, Ebert has also dipped into screenwriting, notably with Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
