Eugene "Gene" Shalit (March 25, 1926; age 98) is an American former film and book critic, television personality, journalist, and author, who served those roles on NBC's The Today Show from 1973 until his retirement in 2010. He was a guest star in the episode "The Krusty Sponge" on SpongeBob SquarePants, where he voiced Gene Scallop (a direct parody of his name).
Biography[]
Shalit was born in New York City and raised in Newark and Morristown, New Jersey. In high school, he wrote a humor column for the school newspaper, which Gannett has identified as "The Korn Krib." Shalit is of Jewish ancestry.
Shalit wrote for The Daily Illini for six years at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1943ā1949). Shalit, according to an interview in The New York Times Magazine of Dick Clark, 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."
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 he had a daily essay on NBC Radio Network "Man About Anything," that was carried on more stations than any other NBC network 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.
Shalit announced that he would leave The Today Show after 40 years, effective November 11, 2010. Of his decision, he was quoted as saying: "It's enough already." He has largely stayed out of the public eye since his retirement, only appearing once for Willard Scott's retirement in 2015.
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