'The Today Show' Movie Critic Gene Shalit Was Married for 28 Years
At 100 years old, Gene has six children and five grandchildren.
Published March 26 2026, 9:49 a.m. ET
The iconic Today Show book and movie critic Gene Shalit was a beloved personality on the show for 40 years before he retired in 2010. In 2026, he celebrated his 100th birthday and got one of Al Roker's famous Smucker's jar commemorations.
Well-known for his prominent mustache, bow ties, and colorful reviews, Gene is a Today Show legend. As of 2026, the critic is retired and living in Massachusetts.
Gene Shalit was married for 28 years.
Gene and his late wife, Nancy Shalit (formerly Nancy Lewis), were married from 1950 until her death in 1978. Nancy was only 49 when she passed from cancer. An obituary says that she passed at home in Leonia, N.J. Gene has not remarried.
Gene and Nancy Shalit had six kids and five grandchildren.
Gene and Nancy's children are named Willa, Amanda, Emily, Peter, Nevin, and Andrew.
Willa is an artist and social entrepreneur. She produced The Vagina Monologues and co-founded V-Day, which is a non-profit aimed at ending violence against women and girls.
Willa is also a sculptor and created an exhibition that allowed people with visual impairments to feel the faces of famous people, according to her bio at Hachette Book Group. She's also a co-founder and digital director of Let's Win, an organization focused on helping patients with pancreatic cancer. She wrote Becoming Myself as well as Lifecast: Behind the Mask. A PBS documentary called Willa: Behind the Mask was created about her.
One of Gene and Nancy's sons is a doctor who is an authority on healthcare for gay men and HIV treatment. Peter is gay, and Gene wrote a column for Advocate in 2006 about his love for Peter and his memory of Peter coming out to him. In the column, Gene wrote that Peter lectured at the University of Washington Medical School at the time and has an advanced degree in genetics.
He also said that Peter wrote a book, is an authority on AIDS, and spoke before the Washington State Supreme Court.
In the essay, Gene also mentioned that his younger son, who is a photographer, went to El Salvador and Nicaragua during their civil wars.
Emily Shalit, another daughter of Gene and Nancy, passed away in 2012 at the age of 55. She lived with multiple sclerosis for decades but died from ovarian cancer, according to Legacy. Emily was a writer, pianist, poet, and animal lover. She was involved in the Berkshire Public Theater in Pittsfield and helped form a Multiple Sclerosis support group.
Parodies of Gene have showed up in a handful of TV shows.
Gene guest-starred as a fish food critic in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. He was also parodied in Family Guy, but he didn't voice the character. He voiced a version of himself in three episodes of the show The Critic, and was parodied for multiple episodes of Saturday Night Live.