Roger Ebert Prosthetic Chin Will Debut On New PBS Series
Famed film critic Roger Ebert will be wearing a prosthetic chin when his new review series — Ebert Presents at the Movies — debuts on PBS this evening (Check Your Local Listings…..). 
The critic — lost his voice and his jaw after a battle against thyroid cancer in 2006 — says it “will be a pleasant reminder of the person I was for 64 years.”
“After surgery, I studiously avoided looking at myself in a mirror,” Ebert wrote this week in a blog post titled “Leading With My Chin.”
Ebert’s new look’s been two years in the making. Roger partnered with craniofacial specialist/facial reconstruction expert Dr. David J. Reisberg, a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, who created the silicone chin for the cinema pundit.
Ebert calls the finished product (Photographed Above) “a pretty wonderful damn job,” though he notes that the new look isnt meant to “fool anyone.”
“Working from molds, they created a prototype prosthesis and sculpted it carefully to more closely resemble what had been there before. This device would fit over my lower face and neck and, colored to match my skin, would pass muster at a certain distance,” Roger writes.
“It was a problem finding the right material. 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. Two weeks ago, David was back with a softer silicone that was much more wearable…”
