‘Today Show’ critic turned 100
Gene Shalit, the mustachioed television personality who reviewed books and movies on “The Today Show” for four decades, died Friday. His family told him NBC News he “passed away peacefully today after 100 years of a wonderful life.”
Shalit appeared on NBC’s “The Today Show” from 1970 until his retirement in 2010, wearing his trademark bow ties and large glasses and incorporating numerous puns into his film and book reviews in the “Critic’s Corner” segments.
In addition to his reviews, he interviewed celebrities from Steven Spielberg to the Grateful Dead to Helen Hayes.
“It was always magical for me to see Gene on screen,” said CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric when he retired in 2010. “I think Gene was a master at doing celebrity interviews. He interviewed Sophia Loren and you could tell he was completely fascinated by her.”
His long tenure on “The Today Show” made him one of the few recognizable film critics, which led to him appearing on several animated shows. “SpongeBob Square Pants” called him Gene Scallop, a fish food critic for whom Shalit provided the voice. He was parodied in four episodes of “Family Guy,” voiced a character playing himself on “The Critic” and was portrayed on “The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence.”
“Saturday Night Live” also parodied the popular critic, with Jon Lovitz and later Horatio Sanz playing Shalit. On “Second City Television,” he was played by the equally bushy-browed Eugene Levy.
He was born in New York City and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where, like fellow critic Roger Ebert, he wrote for the Daily Illini newspaper many years later. Early in his career, he was a press agent for Dick Clark, a job that ended during a congressional investigation into Payola.
In the late 1960s, he began writing about entertainment for publications such as Look, Ladies’ Home Journal, TV Guide and The New York Times. He also wrote four books on humor.
Shalit also broadcast daily essays called “Man About Anything” on the NBC Radio Network from 1970 to 1982.
He leaves behind a son and a daughter. Another daughter and his wife, Nancy Lewis, predeceased him.
