Gene Shalit, former ‘Today’ show movie critic, dies at 100

Gene Shalit, the longtime movie and arts critic for the "Today" show who was known for his puffy hair and handlebar mustache, has died. He was 100.

Big picture view:

Shalit, who was a part of NBC News’ morning show for more than 40 years, died on Friday, his family said. In a statement about his death to the network, his family wrote that he "passed away peacefully today after 100 years of an amazing life."

What they're saying:

What resonated above his unusual appearance was his incredible wit, his remarkable intelligence. But he didn’t pound you over the head with it. He amused you. He enlightened and amused whatever subject he was on," Guy Ludwig, Shalit’s producer for more than 20 years, wrote in an essay at the time of Shalit's retirement.

Impact on movie reviews

Shalit helped change how many Americans decided what movies they should go see. The Plain Dealer once wrote, "Shalit was instrumental in changing the balance of critical power in America. When he began his ‘Today’ tenure, newspapers and magazines were the primary sources for movie reviews. That’s where cinematic opinion was sparked and shaped."

Shalit’s appearances on ‘Today’ began in 1970 as a contributor. Three years later, he became the show’s arts editor and went on to be featured in his "Critic’s Corner" segments. 

The Associated Press wrote about his impact, noting "it was no coincidence" that by the end of the 1970s Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel’s "Sneak Previews," which featured their famous "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" reviews, had launched on PBS and, in 1981, "Good Morning America" hired Joel Siegel to be its movie critic.

The backstory:

Shalit was born in 1926 in New York and grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, where he started his grammar school’s first newspaper, and then became a humor columnist for his high school newspaper. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1949.

After starting his career as an entertainment columnist for McCall’s magazine, Shalit went on to be senior film critic at Look magazine and a writer for Ladies’ Home Journal. His popularity in print led NBC to come calling, and, as Ludwig recalled, they did so sight unseen.

"No one at NBC had seen him. They’d only read his stuff. So he walked into this executive’s office and the executive took one look at him and said, ‘Mr. Shalit, have you ever thought of radio?’" wrote Ludwig. "They didn’t know how the public would react to someone who looked so different from people who were typically on TV in 1967."

More than four decades of movie reviews showed just how well the public would react.

 

Entertainment