Gene Shalit

Eugene Shalit was born on March 25, 1926, in New York City and raised in Newark and Morristown, New Jersey, the son of a drugstore owner and a man of Latvian Jewish heritage. From an early age, he had ink in his veins — at Morristown High School he founded the school's first student newspaper and penned a humor column called "The Korn Krib," a preview of the wordplay that would one day delight millions of television viewers. After graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1949 with a degree in science and letters, where he sharpened his craft at The Daily Illini, Shalit made his way into the bustling world of New York media. He worked as a press agent for Dick Clark in the early 1960s, then pivoted to arts criticism, contributing to McCall's, Look magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, The New York Times, TV Guide, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour. In 1970, he joined NBC's "The Today Show" as a contributor and simultaneously launched a daily essay program — "Man About Anything" — for the NBC Radio Network, a run that would last until 1982. On January 15, 1973, Shalit became The Today Show's arts editor and official film and book critic, a post he would hold for more than 37 remarkable years. Across that tenure he reviewed upward of 10,000 films and sat down with virtually every major figure in Hollywood — Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Robert De Niro, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Beatty, and the entire cast of Star Wars among them. His reviews were events in themselves: delivered with cigar in hand, groan-worthy puns flying, and the ever-present polka-dot bow tie anchoring an appearance that one critic likened to "Daniel Boone in a bow tie and Groucho glasses." His oversized handlebar mustache, electrified hair, and funhouse eyeglasses made him the most recognizable face in American film criticism. Yet beneath the showmanship was a serious commitment to his audience. He famously refused to give away plot twists, believing a critic who spoiled a film had stolen something irreplaceable from the viewer. Gene married Nancy Lewis in 1950 and together they raised six children. Nancy's death from cancer in 1978 was a profound loss. He later retired to the quiet of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he spent his final years away from the spotlight. He celebrated his 100th birthday on March 25, 2026 — cheering on his beloved New York Mets — and passed away peacefully on June 12, 2026. He leaves behind a legacy of wit, warmth, and an enduring belief that going to the movies should be a joy from beginning to end.