Who Is Tom Shales?, Age, Career, Awards, Family, Net Worth: American writer and television critic, Tom Shales, also known as Thomas William Shales has died, aged, 79.
He was a television critic for The Washington Post from 1977 to 2010, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1988.
Tom Shales died on Saturday, January 13, 2024, at a hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. The cause was complications from COVID and renal failure, said his caretaker, Victor Herfurth.
Born in 1944, Shales attended Elgin Community College before transferring to American University in Washington, D.C., where he studied journalism.
At the University, he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Eagle, for the 1966–1967 academic year and the paper’s movie critic.
From 1968 to 1971, Shales worked as entertainment editor at the D.C. Examiner, a tabloid newspaper. In 1972, he joined The Washington Post as a writer in the Style section.
He was then named chief television critic in July 1977 and was appointed TV editor in June 1979. His reviews were syndicated in newspapers nationwide.
In 1988, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for his work at The Washington Post, including his coverage of the Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination hearings.
From 1998 to 1999, he was a frequent film critic for Morning Edition on National Public Radio. He was a guest co-host on the TV show, Roger Ebert & the Movies after Gene Siskel’s death.
In 2006, he ceased to be a staff writer for the Washington Post and went on contract, where he remained until 2010 when he was laid off entirely by the newspaper.
From 2012 to 2014, he wrote a column for RogerEbert.com. Shales was the most influential TV critic in North America for many decades
He was admired for his wit and insight and dreaded for his brutal takedowns of programs and artists he disliked and was nicknamed “Terrible Tom” and “the Terror of the Tube”
Shales wrote or co-wrote four books, including the bestseller Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, co-authored with James Andrew Miller
He had a voracious and wide-ranging curiosity and wrote about TV news coverage of U.S. politics and reviews of new entertainment programs.
Tom Shales Age
Tom Shales died at 79 on Saturday, January 13, 2024. The renowned TV critic was born on Thursday, November 3, 1944, in Elgin, Illinois, United States
Tom Shales Height & Weight
Tom Shales’s height and weight are unknown at this time. However, looking at his photos and videos online, the late TV critic was a tall gentleman with a great physique.
Tom Shales Family
Tom Shales was born to his parents in Elgin, Illinois, United States. Although he’s famous, we do not have any details (name, date of birth, age, and occupation) about his parents at this time
The late critic has never shared any information regarding her siblings making it unknown to us whether or not she’s the only child of her parents. There are no records about that.
For decades, Tom Shales’s sharp criticisms lighted the TV landscape, but information about his personal life was kept under wraps. As of this writing, it’s unclear whether he was engaged or married at the time he died. Shales was never spotted wearing a ring in public images.
The 79-year-old Tom Shales could have children. However, as of January 2024, there are no records of the late television critic’s children, making it unknown whether she had biological or adopted children.
Tom Shales Net Worth
Tom Shales had an estimated net worth of $10 million at the time he died. By 2006, his combined income from his salary and syndication earnings neared $400,000 a year.
Source: Ghgossip.com
