Gene Shalit’s full name is Eugene Shalit. He was born in the year 1926. He is a book and film critic of American nationality. He worked in this same role at Today Show of NBC since 1973 up to 2010 when he retired. He became to be well known because of the colorful bowties, fuzzy hair, large handlebar moustache and the use of the puns.
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Biography
From his biography, Gene Shalit was born in New York hospital and when he was eight days old, the family moved to live in Newark in New Jersey. While at Moriston High School, he was writing a column in the news paper of the school under the name of The Broadcaster. His parents were Jewish.
Career
Gene Shalit started to review the arts from 1967 and he has written for different publications like Ladies’s Home Journal, Look Magazine, The New York times, McCall’s, TV Guide, Cosmopolitan and Seventeen.
He had written for the Daily Illinois in six years and it was from University of Illinois at the Urbana-Champaign. When New York Times Magazine made an interview with Dick Clark, Gene was his press agent. However, he stopped to represent him when Clark was undergoing the Payola congressional investigation. From that time, Clark did not speak to him again and he said that he is a jellyfish, the term which means that he does not have the right stamina or resolve.
In the year 1986, Gene Shalit became the host of a video collection at MCA Home Video. It was named Gene Shalit’s Critic’s Choice Video. There were four images for Shalit which appeared on the filmstrip at the front box and there was his review at the back. The titles included The Ipcress File, Double Indemnity, Destry Rides Again and Touch of Evil. He announced that he wanted to retire from The Today’s Show after working there for 40 years. He said enough is enough already.
Gene Shalit was criticized because of the review he made on the Brokeback Mountain of Jake Gyllenhaal since he characterized him like a sexual predator. The accusation was made by Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation but his son Peter Shalit who is also gay sent a letter to GLAAD defending Gene.
Married, wife, children
Gene Shalit got married and his wife was called Nancy Shalit. They were living in the city of Leonia in New Jersey. He has three children, entrepreneur and artist called Willa Shalit, the second child is Peter Shalit, a physician who is recognized on the gay health and of the people who are living with HIV. He had a daughter called Emily but died in the year 2012 because of the Ovarian Cancer. Gene Shalit had no record of any divorce.
Net worth
Gene Shalit had been successful with his career and he had been able to make over 20 million dollars as his net worth.
Last Modified: Mar 5, 2020
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