<\/p>\n
Gene Shalit<\/a>, the fast-talking funnyman who reviewed films, plays and books for NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d show has died. He was 100. <\/p>\n Shalit\u2019s family confirmed the longtime critic\u2019s death Friday, telling NBC that he \u201cpassed away peacefully after 100 years of an amazing life.\u201d<\/p>\n According to a 2010 interview with Guy Ludwig, Shalit\u2019s producer for more than 20 years, Shalit was hired as a contributor at \u201cToday<\/a>\u201d in 1968. He reviewed books once a month or so, but audiences were so fascinated by his eccentric personality and equally unconventional looks that NBC ramped up the critic\u2019s on-air appearances. <\/p>\n In January 1973, on the same day he was promoted to arts editor, Shalit debuted \u201cCritic\u2019s Corner,\u201d the segment that would ultimately make him a household name. In 2010, Shalit retired as one of the last regular film critics on a major network. <\/p>\n Ludwig referred to Shalit as the \u201cfoxy grandpa\u201d of the \u201cToday\u201d show.<\/p>\n Shalit cut his teeth in media as an entertainment columnist for McCall\u2019s magazine, eventually landing the role of senior film critic for Look magazine in 1968 and writing a humor column for Ladies\u2019 Home Journal. His quick wit, punchy puns and unique voice came through even on the page, and NBC took notice. <\/p>\n \u201cNo one at NBC had seen him. They\u2019d only read his stuff. So he walked into this executive\u2019s office and the executive took one look at him and said, \u2018Mr. Shalit, have you ever thought of radio?\u2019\u201d Ludwig told \u201cToday.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t know how the public would react to someone who looked so different from people who were typically on TV in 1967.\u201d<\/p>\n On \u201cCritics Corner,\u201d Shalit favored humor over the highfalutin. He was an everyman\u2019s critic. Of 1997\u2019s action-thriller \u201cFace\/Off,\u201d he said<\/a>, \u201cNow, \u2018Face\/Off\u2019 is a literal title, because both of their faces are taken off. Then each face is put onto the other\u2019s head. Even their voices are switched with microchip implants. In other words, this is an entirely reasonable, rational movie!\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cMany critics will give so much of the plot of a movie away that they destroy the movie for the viewer … I just don\u2019t give away the story,\u201d he told the Associated Press <\/a>in 1993.<\/p>\n During his tenure, he was known to bust up his colleagues, and \u201cToday\u201d anchors ranging from Edwin Newman, Barbara Walters and Jane Pauley to Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, Katie Couric, Al Roker and Meredith Vieira.<\/p>\n