From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/arts/television/gene-shalit-dead.html
Gene Shalit, Film Critic Bristling With Hair and Puns, Dies at 100
One of the nationrCOs most recognizable characters, he delivered his wacky commentary for more than 40 years on the rCLTodayrCY show.
By Robert D. McFadden June 12, 2026 Updated 8:55 p.m. ET
Gene Shalit, the Muppet look-alike who reviewed movies and other cultural
arts with a whimsical bent and a shtick for puns as the resident wit on NBCrCOs rCLTodayrCY show for four decades, one of the longest tenures on an American television program, died on Friday at 100.
NBC reported the death, citing a family statement. No further details were immediately available.
For millions of Americans tuned in to the rCLTodayrCY potpourri of news, interviews, entertainment and weather, a dose of literate, wacky
commentary from Mr. ShalitrCOs rCLCriticrCOs Corner,rCY often with cackles of appreciation for his own incorrigibility, was as much a part of the
morning as a cup of coffee.
With his handlebar mustache, bushy hair, black horn-rimmed glasses and extravagant bow ties, he was one of the nationrCOs most recognizable characters, a composite caricature of Groucho Marx, William Howard Taft
and a Jim Henson puppet. His punchy wry wit may have borrowed from Woody
Allen and Mark Twain, but it played well in Peoria.
rCLrCyIshtarrCO ish tarrible!rCY Mr. Shalit concluded in a review of Elaine MayrCOs
1987 comedy about two lounge singers looking for work in Morocco and
stumbling into Cold War machinations.
After seeing rCLThe Longest Yard,rCY a 1974 flick in which Burt Reynolds organizes a prison football team, he suggested: rCLThis movie should be penalized half the distance to the goal rCo twice.rCY
And joining a chorus of critics panning rCLHudson Hawk,rCY a 1991 Bruce Willis world-domination vehicle, he warned: rCLThis movie is awful, spelled o-f-f- a-l.rCY
His most controversial criticism came in a negative review of rCLBrokeback Mountain,rCY the widely acclaimed 2005 Ang Lee film depicting the romantic
and sexual relationship between two men in the American West. Mr. Shalit called Jake GyllenhaalrCOs character, Jack Twist, a rCLsexual predatorrCY who rCLtracks Ennis (Heath Ledger) down and coaxes him into sporadic trysts.rCY
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, now known as GLAAD,
accused Mr. Shalit of promoting anti-gay prejudice and demanded an
apology. Mr. Shalit, the father of six children, including a gay son,
replied with a letter expressing regret, acknowledging that he had
rCLangered, agitated and hurt many people,rCY and saying that he had had rCLno intention of casting aspersions on anyone in the gay community or the gay community itself.rCY
Besides reviewing movies, books, plays and other cultural offerings, Mr. Shalit interviewed authors and entertainers, including Barbra Streisand, Warren Beatty, Robert De Niro and Sophia Loren. He did cameos of himself
in several movies and television shows, and was a familiar figure on television game and talk shows and charity fund-raisers.
On rCLToday,rCY a program sensitive to ratings and notable for personnel changes, Mr. Shalit was the durable mainstay in a cast that over the years included Barbara Walters, Jim Hartz, Tom Brokaw, John Chancellor, Hugh
Downs, Joe Garagiola, Deborah Norville, Jane Pauley, Katie Couric, Bryant Gumbel, Al Roker, Willard Scott, Matt Lauer and Ann Curry.
Mr. Shalit joined rCLTodayrCY in 1968 as a book reviewer, became a regular in 1970 and was the culture critic from 1973 until he retired in 2010.
His producer, Guy Ludwig, reflecting on Mr. ShalitrCOs long career in 2010, recalled seeing Mr. Shalit, late in his career, entering a theater for a screening with a look of glee on his face.
rCLMy God, how could you?rCY he said. rCLYourCOve seen two million movies.rCY
rCLYeah,rCY Mr. Shalit replied, rCLbut IrCOve never seen this one!rCY
Eugene Theodore Shalit (rhymes with PAL-it) was born in New York City on
March 25, 1926, to Latvian immigrants, Isadore and Anna (Michelovich)
Shalit. He grew up in Newark and Morristown, N.J., where his father owned
a drugstore. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1949.
Arriving in New York City in 1951, he was hired by a press agent to attend stage shows at the Paramount and laugh at the comics for $5 a day. rCLThey werenrCOt funny,rCY he recalled in a 2012 interview for this obituary. rCLI couldnrCOt laugh. One other person was laughing. He got $5 too.rCY Mr. Shalit quit after one day.
He next landed in the publicity department of Look magazine, doing promotionals with rCLtwo other kidsrCY rCo Lawrence K. Grossman, who became president of NBC, and Marvin Josephson, who founded the talent agency International Creative Management.
Mr. Shalit was married to Nancy Lewis from 1951 until her death in 1978,
and they had six children: Peter, Willa, Emily, Amanda, Nevin and Andrew. Emily died in 2012. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.
In the 1950s and early rCO60s, Mr. Shalit wrote columns and culture reviews for LadiesrCO Home Journal and Look magazine. An NBC executive spotted his writing and, worried about how audiences might react to his mustache and
hair, hired him in 1967 for network radio work. A year later, NBC took a chance and he began appearing on the rCLTodayrCY show.
rCLOnce Gene was on, herCOd get letters like, rCyWho is this part-time anarchist
that you have on television?rCOrCY Mr. Ludwig recalled. rCLBut what resonated above his unusual appearance was his incredible wit, his remarkable intelligence.rCY
From 1970 to 1982, Mr. Shalit produced a daily essay for NBC Radio, rCLMan About Anything,rCY which was heard on more stations than any other NBC
network feature. He was an occasional panelist on rCLWhatrCOs My Line?rCY; hosted programs on the rCLMasterpiece MysteryrCY series; and wrote for TV Guide, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Glamour, McCallrCOs, The New York Times and other publications.
rCLLaughing Matters: A Celebration of American Humor,rCY a compendium of works by 200 authors, script writers and cartoonists selected by Mr. Shalit, was published in 1987. Mr. Shalit loved classical music, played the bassoon
and performed with the Boston Symphony in Boston, at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood near his home in Stockbridge, Mass., and at Lincoln Center in New York. He once conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony in a full concert. He liked to say that in none of these venues was he ever invited back.
In 1974, Jim HensonrCOs Muppets appeared on the rCLTodayrCY show with Bert gussied up in Shalit-style hair and mustache. Side by side they looked
like fraternal twins. In 1983, he appeared in the Great Muppet Look-Alike Contest in Muppet magazinerCOs first issue, and in 1996 he contributed a recipe for rCLMovie Crumb CakerCY for the cookbook rCLIn the Kitchen With Miss Piggy.rCY
Mr. Shalit wrote many letters to The Times about baseball. In 2003, he suggested help for the Mets lineup: sign Rickey Henderson, then in his
last season.
rCLWith his walks, bunts and an occasional extra-base hit, he will get on
base far more often than the current troupe,rCY he wrote. rCLAnd when Rickey gets to first, herCOll soon be on second. Sure, herCOll be stranded there, but wonrCOt it be fun to see a Met in scoring position?rCY
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