Latest Update: Gene Siskel & Career Highlights Net Worth 2026: Career Earnings & Assets

As one of the most talked-about figures, Gene Siskel has built a significant fortune. In this article, we dive deep into the assets and career highlights.

What Was Gene Siskel's Net Worth?

Gene Siskel was an American film critic and journalist who had a net worth of $5 million at the time of his death in 1999. Gene Siskel was best known for being part of the movie review duo Siskel & Ebert withRoger Ebert. Siskel and Ebert became a sensation in American pop culture and were known for their biting wit, intense professional rivalry, heated arguments, and their trademark "Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down" movie rating system.

Siskel began working at the "Chicago Tribune" in 1969. He worked as a film critic for the paper before meeting "Chicago Sun-Times" film reviewer Robert Ebert in 1975. They subsequently began co-hosting a show on the local PBS station known as "Sneak Previews." Siskel and Ebert developed their "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" rating system, and "Sneak Previews" was broadcast nationwide in 1977 on PBS. They left PBS for syndication and hosted the show "At the Movies," which was distributed by Tribune Broadcasting and later TheWalt DisneyCompany. The title was changed to "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies" but later changed to just "Siskel & Ebert." Siskel also served as a correspondent for the TV series "CBS This Morning" from 1990 to 1996 and then "Good Morning America" from 1996 to 1999. As a duo, Siskel & Ebert were nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards and three Daytime Emmy Awards. Gene Siskel passed away on February 20, 1999, at the age of 53, from complications due to surgery related to a cancerous brain tumor.

Early Life

Gene Siskel was born on January 26, 1946, in Chicago, Illinois. His parents, Ida and Nathan William Siskel, were Russian Jewish immigrants. Gene was orphaned as a child and then raised by his aunt and uncle beginning when he was nine years old. He attended Culver Academy and graduated from Yale University with a degree in philosophy in 1967. While there, he studied writing under Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Hersey. It was Hersey's reference that helped him get a job at the "Chicago Tribune" in 1969.

Early Career

After finishing his studies, Siskel served in the U.S. Army Reserve where he was a military journalist and public affairs officer for the Defense Information School. He then got a job as a film reviewer with the "Chicago Tribune." His first review was for the film "Rascal." Gene remained the paper's film critic until 1986 when the "Chicago Tribune" announced that Siskel was no longer the paper's full-time critic but rather would work as a freelance contract writer. He remained in this role until 1999.

In 1975, Siskel teamed up with Roger Ebert, the film reviewer for the "Chicago Sun-Times." The pair began hosting a show on the local Chicago PBS station, WTTW, which eventually became known as "Sneak Previews." On the show, they developed a thumbs-up, thumbs-down system to review films, with Siskel and Ebert each rating each movie as either a thumbs-up or down after delivering their full review. The rating system soon became an easily recognizable trademark, so popular that it came to be parodied on comedy shows and films such as "Second City Television," "In Living Color," "Bizarre," "Hollywood Shuffle," and "Godzilla." "Sneak Previews" gained a nationwide audience in 1977 when WTTW offered it as a series to the PBS Program system.

In summary, the total wealth of Gene Siskel reflects strategic moves.

Disclaimer: All net worth figures are estimates based on public data.