HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Roger Ebert may have a new face, but he certainly hasn't lost his sense of humor.
The beloved film critic is now wearing a facial prosthesis – something he says was two years in the making. Ebert lost his voice in 2006 when complications developed after a surgery for cancer in his jaw. His face was left disfigured and he now relies on special text-to-speech software and good old fashioned pen and paper to communicate.
"Working from molds, they created a prototype prosthesis and sculpted it carefully to more closely resemble what had been there before," Ebert says on his blog.
He says the prosthesis was colored to match his skin and fits over his lower face and neck. But it wasn't an easy process.
"It was a problem finding the right material," he explains. "Two original models were too stiff, so that my head held upright reminded me of Erich von Stroheim in Grand Illusion. I couldn't look down easily, which was a problem for walking and typing."
But two weeks ago, Ebert was presented "with a softer silicone that was much more wearable."
"I like my new prothesis and know from observation their work was painstaking and done with love and care," he says of those who made his new face possible.
The famous critic says he'll wear the prothesis on his new public television show, Ebert Presents at the Movies.
"That's not to fool anyone, because my appearance is widely known," he says. "It will be used in a medium shot of me working in my office, and will be a pleasant reminder of the person I was for 64 years. Symbolically, it's as if my illness never happened and, hey, here I still am, on the show with these new kids."
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