Gene Shalit, Today Show Film Critic, Dies at 100

Gene Shalit, the unmistakable movie critic who spent more than four decades making audiences laugh — and occasionally groan — on NBC's Today show, has died at 100.

His family announced the death to NBC News on Friday, saying in a statement that he "passed away" peacefully. No cause of death was given. The Associated Press first reported the news, which was picked up locally by the Medicine Hat News.

Shalit was many things — critic, punster, personality — but he was impossible to miss. The explosion of dark, curly hair and the enormous handlebar mustache made him one of the most recognizable faces on American morning television from the early 1970s through 2011. He arrived on Today as a film and book critic and became, over time, a fixture as reliable as the sunrise his viewers were eating breakfast by.

His reviews were never dry. Shalit made the pun a professional tool — some said a weapon — deploying wordplay so relentlessly corny it circled back around to charming. A bad movie wasn't just bad; it was the launching pad for four or five groaners before the segment ended. Viewers either loved it or changed the channel, and enough of them loved it to keep him on morning television for four decades.

He joined Today in 1973 and became a regular contributor, eventually earning the title of chief film critic. Over his tenure he reviewed thousands of films, interviewed Hollywood's biggest names, and built a reputation as someone who took the art of movies seriously even when he was making jokes about them. He retired from the show in 2011 at age 85 — itself a remarkable run — and had been out of the public eye since.

For Medicine Hat readers of a certain age, Shalit is the voice that helped shape how North Americans talked about movies at a time when the only screen in town might have been the Monarch or the old drive-in out on the Trans-Canada corridor. His Today reviews were appointment television in households across the continent, including here on the prairies, long before Rotten Tomatoes or anyone on YouTube told you what to think about a film.

He is survived by his family. No funeral details have been made public.

Shalit was 100 years old.