Gene Shalit Explained

Birth Date:25 March 1926
Birth Place:New York City, U.S.
Years Active:c. 1960–2010
Education:Morristown High School
Alma Mater:University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Children:6, including Willa
Television:Today

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.[1] [2] 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.[3] Shalit is of Jewish ancestry.[4]

In high school, Shalit wrote a humor column for the school newspaper, which Gannett has identified as "The Korn Krib".[5]

Shalit attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he wrote for The Daily Illini from 1945 to 1949.[6]

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".[7]

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.[8]

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.[9] He has largely stayed out of the public eye since then, only appearing once for Willard Scott's retirement from NBC in 2015.[10]

Brokeback Mountain review controversy

Shalit was criticized by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for his review of Brokeback Mountain in which he referred to Jake Gyllenhaal's character as a "sexual predator": GLAAD said Shalit's "baseless branding of Jack as a 'sexual predator' merely because he is romantically interested in someone of the same sex is defamatory, ignorant, and irresponsible" and that he "used the occasion to promote defamatory antigay prejudice to a national audience."[11] His son Peter, who is gay, wrote a letter to GLAAD defending his father and said the organization had defamed him by "falsely accusing him of a repellent form of bigotry."[12]

Written works

Personal life

Shalit was married to Nancy Lewis from 1950 until her death from cancer in 1978.[13] For much of his career, he lived in Leonia, New Jersey., he resided in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.[14] [15] [16]

Nancy Lewis' and Gene Shalit's children include the artist and entrepreneur Willa Shalit.[17] Another child is Peter Shalit, a physician and recognized authority on gay men's health and living with HIV.[18] [19] [12] 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.

In popular culture

Shalit guest-starred as the voice, and was portrayed in the form of a fish food critic named "Gene Scallop" in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "The Krusty Sponge".[20]

Shalit has been parodied in several episodes of Family Guy in cutaway gags, including "Brian Sings and Swings",[21] "The Book of Joe",[22] and "Big Man on Hippocampus",[23] though Shalit did not provide voice acting for the series.

Shalit also voiced a character portraying himself in three episodes of the animated series The Critic.[24]

A Muppet character based on him appeared in (1975).[25]

Shalit was portrayed in two episodes of Saturday Night Live by Jon Lovitz,[26] and later in nine episodes by Horatio Sanz in sketches and Weekend Update sequences.[27] [28]

Shalit was also portrayed on Second City Television several times by cast member Eugene Levy.[29]

On Late Night with David Letterman Shalit had his head squashed between two giant comedy hammers during an interview with David Letterman.[30] [31]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dawidziak . Mark . November 12, 2010 . Gene Shalit Signs Off from the 'Today' Show . May 5, 2021 . Cleveland . May 5, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210505054055/https://www.cleveland.com/tv-blog/2010/11/gene_shalit_signs_off_from_the_today_show.html . live .
  2. Movie Critic Gene Shalit Leaving 'Today' Show . November 9, 2010 . . June 4, 2015 . . Associated Press.
  3. Web site: December 10, 2004 . Gene Shalit . June 4, 2015 . . January 16, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210116185801/https://www.today.com/id/wbna6694545 . live .
  4. Web site: Scherzer . Carl B. . October 1977 . Early Jewish History in Morristown . April 23, 2021 . Morristown Jewish Center . Gene Shalit is not Morristown's first nationally known television personality of Jewish ancestry. . April 23, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210423082140/https://www.mjcby.org/2014/10/early-jewish-history-in-morristown/ . live .
  5. Web site: Morristown at a Glance . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927194227/http://www.gannett.com/about/map/ataglance/morrist.htm . September 27, 2007 . January 27, 2008 . . Poet Joyce Kilmer once taught at Morristown High School, and film critic Gene Shalit got his start writing a humor column, 'The Korn Krib,' for the high school newspaper..
  6. Web site: Gene Shalit 2007 Hall of Fame Profile . . November 21, 2023 .
  7. Goldman . Andrew . March 27, 2011 . Dick Clark, Still the Oldest Living Teenager . . MM14 . April 13, 2011 . April 1, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110401202127/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/magazine/mag-27Talk-t.html . live .
  8. November 29, 1986 . [{{Google books|tyQEAAAAMBAJ|page=45|plainurl=yes}} Home Video Newsline ]. . 45 . 0006-2510.
  9. News: November 10, 2010 . People: Conan O'Brien; Robert De Niro; Gene Shalit; Rachel Weisz; Darren Aronofsky; Neil Young; John Nettles . . December 29, 2010 . December 10, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101210193856/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10314/1101978-348.stm . live .
  10. News: December 15, 2015 . Willard Scott's Retirement Brings Rare Gene Shalit Sighting to 'Today' . . May 29, 2019 . May 30, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190530021631/https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/willard-scott-retirement-brings-gene-shalit-back-today-article-1.2466391 . live .
  11. January 7, 2006 . Gene Shalit's Brokeback Mountain Review Angers Gay Rights Group . . 0001-8996.
  12. January 10, 2006 . Peter Shalit Writes to GLAAD About His Dad . . 0001-8996.
  13. News: December 7, 2012 . Emily Shalit . . December 29, 2018 . Legacy . December 30, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181230030518/http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/Berkshire/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=161528450 . live .
  14. Kahn . Toby . February 10, 1986 . Gene Shalit's Daughter Willa Has Casts of Characters Ranging from Brooke Shields to President Reagan . . May 16, 2016.
  15. Book: The Publishers Weekly . September 26, 2006 . F. Leypoldt . 184 . 117 . 1st pub. 1963.
  16. News: Fanto . Clarence . January 11, 2013 . Gene Shalit's Car-Crash Case in Lenox to Be Dismissed . . Massachusetts . May 25, 2021 . May 25, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210525211101/https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/local/gene-shalits-car-crash-case-in-lenox-to-be-dismissed/article_1e6ba4f8-88dc-50ae-9492-a8586725436d.html . live .
  17. News: September 17, 2008 . Woman Proves Shopping Can Transform Lives . . July 12, 2012 . October 6, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141006185008/http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/09/17/o.good.buy.girl/index.html . live .
  18. Book: Shalit, Peter . Living Well: The Gay Man's Essential Health Guide . Allyson . 1998 . 978-1-55583-444-9.
  19. Steele . Bruce C. . February 14, 2006 . Q&A: Peter Shalit . . 4 . October 7, 2018.
  20. News: Harnick . Chris . June 18, 2019 . SpongeBob SquarePants Assembles Its Celebrity Guest Stars for One Epic Celebration . E! Online . January 7, 2020 . June 23, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190623134228/https://www.eonline.com/ap/news/1050330/spongebob-squarepants-assembles-its-celebrity-guest-stars-for-one-epic-celebration . live .
  21. Brian Sings and Swings . Brian Sings and Swings . Family Guy . Family Guy . . January 8, 2006 . 4 . 19.
  22. The Book of Joe . The Book of Joe . Family Guy . Family Guy . . October 5, 2014 . 13 . 2.
  23. Big Man on Hippocampus . Big Man on Hippocampus . Family Guy . Family Guy . . January 3, 2010 . 8 . 10.
  24. Web site: Yorston . G.W.C. . Lavalie . John . October 25, 2018 . The Critic: an Episode Guide . January 7, 2020 . . August 30, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210830204826/http://www.epguides.com/critic/guide.shtml . live .
  25. News: Gilchrist . Todd . May 19, 2012 . The Muppet Show – Season One . . January 7, 2020 . November 24, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201124112502/https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/08/10/the-muppet-show-season-one . live .
  26. Web site: Gene Shalit Played by Jon Lovitz . November 4, 2021 . SNL Archives . November 4, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211104223212/http://www.snlarchives.net/Impressions/?776 . live .
  27. Web site: Watch Gene Shalit Sketches from SNL Played by Horatio Sanz . March 31, 2017 . . April 1, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170401145238/https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/cast/horatio-sanz-14751/impersonation/gene-shalit-88756 . live .
  28. Web site: Gene Shalit Played by Horatio Sanz . November 4, 2021 . SNL Archives . November 4, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211104223213/http://www.snlarchives.net/Impressions/?2005 . live .
  29. News: Meisler . Andy . April 17, 1994 . The Satirist Who Landed in a Sitcom . . Television . February 28, 2021 . August 30, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210830204825/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/17/arts/television-the-satirist-who-landed-in-a-sitcom.html . live .
  30. Web site: Rami . Trupti . Yuan . Jada . Caldwell . Sean Fitz-Gerald Sarah . Salemi . Vicki . Gilbert . Kylie . Vineyard . Jennifer . Gaffney . Adrienne . Orzeck . Kurt . Gordon . Diane . 20 May 2015 . Conan O'Brien, Tina Fey, and More Celebs Share Their Favorite Letterman Memories . . en . Peters . Jenny . March 20, 2022 . March 20, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220320185149/https://slate.com/culture/2015/05/conan-o-brien-tina-fey-and-more-share-their-favorite-letterman-memories.html . live .
  31. 'Why We Edit' Collection on Letterman, 1983–92 . March 23, 2020 . Giller, Don . March 30, 2022 . YouTube.

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