Gene Shalit facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gene Shalit
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Shalit on Today, 1973
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| Born | March 25, 1926 New York City, U.S.
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| Education | Morristown High School |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | c. 1960–2010 |
| Television | Today |
| Spouse(s) |
Nancy Lewis
(m. 1950; died 1978) |
| Children | 6, including Willa |
Eugene Shalit (born March 25, 1926) is an American retired journalist, television personality, film and book critic, and author. After starting to work part-time on NBC's The Today Show in 1970, he filled those roles from January 15, 1973, until retiring on November 11, 2010. He is known for his frequent use of puns, his oversized handlebar moustache and fuzzy hair, and for wearing colorful bow ties.
Early life and education
Shalit was born on March 25, 1926, in New York City, and raised in Newark and Morristown, New Jersey. Shalit is of Jewish ancestry.
In high school, Shalit wrote a humor column for the school newspaper, which Gannett has identified as "The Korn Krib".
Shalit attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he wrote for The Daily Illini from 1945 to 1949.
Career
Shalit, according to a Dick Clark interview in The New York Times Magazine, was Clark's press agent in the early 1960s. Shalit reportedly "stopped representing" Clark during a Congressional investigation of payola. Clark never spoke to Shalit again, and referred to him as a "jellyfish".
Shalit has been involved in reviewing the arts since 1967 and has written for such publications as Look magazine, Ladies' Home Journal (for 12 years), Cosmopolitan, TV Guide, Seventeen, Glamour, McCall's, and The New York Times.
From 1970 to 1982, Shalit broadcast a daily essay, Man About Anything, for the NBC Radio Network, which was NBC's most widely carried radio feature.
In 1986, Shalit hosted a videocassette and laserdisc collection from MCA Home Video, Gene Shalit's Critic's Choice Video. Four images (five on the laserdisc covers) of Shalit appeared in a filmstrip on the front of the box with his reviews on the back. Titles included Touch of Evil, Destry Rides Again, Double Indemnity and The Ipcress File.
Shalit announced that he would leave The Today Show after 40 years, effective November 11, 2010. He was quoted as saying "It's enough already", about his retirement. He has largely stayed out of the public eye since then, only appearing once for Willard Scott's retirement from NBC in 2015.
Personal life
Shalit was married to Nancy Lewis from 1950 until her death from cancer in 1978. For much of his career, he lived in Leonia, New Jersey. As of 2012[update], he resided in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Nancy Lewis' and Gene Shalit's children include the artist and entrepreneur Willa Shalit. Another child is Peter Shalit, a physician and recognized authority on gay men's health and living with HIV. Their daughter Emily died of ovarian cancer in November 2012.
On October 24, 2012, Shalit crashed his car in Lenox, Massachusetts, after accidentally falling asleep at the wheel. Misdemeanor charges of negligent driving to endanger were later dismissed after he agreed to stop driving until the dismissal, and he was to follow a "safety condition" approved by his attorney and the police chief.
