All There Is To Know About Him

April 2024 · 4 minute read

Best remembered for his roles on NBC’s The Today Show, Gene Shalit is a 97-year-old retired American television personality, actor, and journalist. He is also an author, book critic, and press agent. As an actor, he has made appearances in movies like SpongeBob SquarePants (1999), Masterpiece Mystery (1980), and The Critic (1994). 

He was married to Nancy Lewis for about 3 decades, and the pair birthed six kids, including Willa Shalit and Peter Shalit.

Table of Contents

 Gene Shalit’s early life

Gene Shalit was born on March 25, 1926, in New York City, U.S. However, he was raised and spent most of his life in Newark, New Jersey.

He attended Morristown High School, and it was there that he developed an interest in writing. Gene wrote a humor column for his high school’s newspaper before moving to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While in college, he also wrote for The Daily Illini for six years, starting from 1943 to 1949.

He had his major career breakthrough in the 1960s

Until the early 1960s, Shalit remained an amateur. However, he became a press agent for Dick Clark in 1960, and this became a springboard for his writing and media career. Meanwhile, Dick was an American television and radio personality and television producer best known for hosting American Bandstand for several years.

After working with Dick for some time, Shalit later started to work as a reviewer in 1967. He also worked for several publications, including Look Magazine, Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, TV Guide, Seventeen, Glamour, McCall’s, and The New York Times.

He also worked on NBC’s The Today Show for about 4 decades after starting part-time in 1970. While on the show, he was known for his frequent use of puns, his oversized handlebar mustache, and his fuzzy hair. Shalit also loved colorful bowties.

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He was married for 28 years

The 97-year-old entertainer married Nancy Lewis in 1950, and their union endured until Nancy passed away in 1978 from cancer. Before Nancy’s death, the couple lived in Leonia, New Jersey, and they were blessed with six children, including Willa Shalit, Emily Shalit, and Andrew Shalit. Others are Peter Shalit, Nevin Shalit, and Amanda Shalit.

Although Shalit initially shielded his family from the public eye, it did not take long before their identities were made public.

Meet his kids

Peter Shalit

Peter Shalit was born in 1954 and he is currently 70 years old. He is an internal medicine physician and a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington. He is also the author of Living Well: The Gay Man’s Essential Health Guide

Willa Shalit

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Willa Shalit (born 1955) is also one of the kids born to Shalit and Nancy. She is an American social entrepreneur and strategic advisor who is renowned for her work as an artist, theatre and television producer, photographer, author, and editor. 

She has been married twice. First to Michael Schneider and then to Anthony James Heymen.

Emily Grace Shalit

Shalit and Nancy also had a daughter named Emily Grace Shalit. Emily was born on August 22, 1957, and she also followed the career path of her father in writing. She was a poet, pianist, and animal rescuer.

Emily received her early education at the Anna C. Scott School and the Dwight School for Girls, both in northern New Jersey and then on to college at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Sadly, Emily died of ovarian cancer on November 28, 2012, at the Great Barrington Rehabilitation & Nursing Center.

Before her passing, she worked with several organizations including Red Lion Inn, and Berkshire Public Theater. She was married to John Gelpi.

While Peter, Willa, and Emily are known, not much is in the public space about Gene’s other kids. Perhaps, their profiles will be revealed in the public space with time.

Other Quick Facts About Gene Shalit

1. He crashed his car on October 24, 2012, in Leno Massachusetts after falling asleep at the wheel. Although his car was damaged, no one got hurt.

2. Gene was dragged by the gay community after he published his book Brokeback Mountain. In the book, he portrayed the character of Jack Gyllenhaal as a sexual predator and this did not sit well with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

3. His son, Peter Shalit is gay. Peter is known to have defended his father after he became the subject of controversy following the publishing of his book, Brokeback Mountain.

4. Throughout his life, Shalit has written and edited several books including Somehow It Works; A Candid Portrait of the 1964 Presidential Election. Others are

5. Shalit retired in 2010, and the entertainer has stayed away from the spotlight since then. However, he made a brief appearance on the TV show Today in 2015. His appearance was a special way of saying goodbye to American television presenter, Williard Scott who was retiring at that time.

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