Gene Shalit, beloved and bushy film critic on the 'Today' show, dies at 100

Gene Shalit, the fast-talking funnyman who reviewed films, plays and books for NBC’s “Today” amusement has died. He was 100.

Shalit’s household confirmed the longtime critic’s decease Friday, telling NBC that helium “passed distant peacefully aft 100 years of an astonishing life.”

According to a 2010 interrogation with Guy Ludwig, Shalit’s shaper for much than 20 years, Shalit was hired arsenic a contributor astatine “Today” successful 1968. He reviewed books erstwhile a period oregon so, but audiences were truthful fascinated by his eccentric property and arsenic unconventional looks that NBC ramped up the critic’s on-air appearances.

In January 1973, connected the aforesaid time helium was promoted to arts editor, Shalit debuted “Critic’s Corner,” the conception that would yet marque him a household name. In 2010, Shalit retired arsenic 1 of the past regular movie critics connected a large network.

Ludwig referred to Shalit arsenic the “foxy grandpa” of the “Today” show.

Shalit chopped his teeth successful media arsenic an amusement columnist for McCall’s magazine, yet landing the relation of elder movie professional for Look mag successful 1968 and penning a wit file for Ladies’ Home Journal. His speedy wit, punchy puns and unsocial dependable came done adjacent connected the page, and NBC took notice.

“No 1 astatine NBC had seen him. They’d lone work his stuff. So helium walked into this executive’s bureau and the enforcement took 1 look astatine him and said, ‘Mr. Shalit, person you ever thought of radio?’” Ludwig told “Today.”

“They didn’t cognize however the nationalist would respond to idiosyncratic who looked truthful antithetic from radical who were typically connected TV successful 1967.”

On “Critics Corner,” Shalit favored wit implicit the highfalutin. He was an everyman’s critic. Of 1997’s action-thriller “Face/Off,” helium said, “Now, ‘Face/Off’ is simply a literal title, due to the fact that some of their faces are taken off. Then each look is enactment onto the other’s head. Even their voices are switched with microchip implants. In different words, this is an wholly reasonable, rational movie!”

“Many critics volition springiness truthful overmuch of the crippled of a movie distant that they destruct the movie for the spectator ... I conscionable don’t springiness distant the story,” helium told the Associated Press successful 1993.

During his tenure, helium was known to bust up his colleagues, and “Today” anchors ranging from Edwin Newman, Barbara Walters and Jane Pauley to Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, Katie Couric, Al Roker and Meredith Vieira.

But not everyone appreciated Shalit’s style. In 1989, a leaked in-house memo from “Today” amusement co-host Bryant Gumbel to Marty Ryan, the erstwhile enforcement shaper of the NBC program, complained that Shalit’s movie reviews “are often precocious and his interviews aren’t precise good.”

Eugene Shalit was calved March 25, 1926, successful New York City and grew up successful Morristown, N.J. He launched his simple school’s archetypal newspaper, “The Spotlight,” and purchased a fedora to seal his destiny arsenic a journalist. In Morristown High School helium wrote the schoolhouse newspaper’s wit file “The Broadcaster.” In 1949, helium graduated from the University of Illinois astatine Urbana-Champaign.

Shalit was joined to Nancy Lewis for 28 years until her decease successful 1978 and ne'er remarried. The mates had six children: Peter, Willa, Emily, Amanda, Nevin and Andrew. Emily died from ovarian crab successful 2012.