Mel Brooks
Acting
- Born:
- 1926-06-28
- Place of birth:
- Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Biography
Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and songwriter. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. A recipient of numerous accolades, he is one of 21 entertainers to win the EGOT (which includes an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony). He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013, a British Film Institute Fellowship in 2015, a National Medal of Arts in 2016, a BAFTA Fellowship in 2017, and the Honorary Academy Award in 2024. Brooks began his career as a comic and a writer for Sid Caesar's variety show Your Show of Shows(1950–1954). There, he worked with Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, and Carl Reiner. With Reiner, he co-created the comedy sketch The 2000 Year Old Man. He released several comedy albums, starting with 2000 Year Old Man in 1960. Brooks received five nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, finally winning in 1999. With Buck Henry, he created the hit satirical spy comedy series Get Smart (1965–1970) on NBC television. Brooks won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Producers (1967). He then rose to prominence by directing a string of successful comedy films such as The Twelve Chairs (1970), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), and High Anxiety (1977). Later, Brooks made History of the World, Part I (1981), Spaceballs (1987), Life Stinks (1991), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995). A musical adaptation of his first film, The Producers, ran on Broadway from 2001 to 2007 and earned Brooks three Tony Awards. The project was remade into a musical film in 2005. He wrote and produced the Hulu series History of the World, Part II (2023). Brooks was married to actress Anne Bancroft from 1964 until she died in 2005. Their son, Max Brooks, is an actor and author known for his novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (2006). In 2021, Mel Brooks published his memoir titled All About Me!. Three of his films are included on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 comedy films of the past 100 years (1900–2000), all of which were ranked in the top 15: Blazing Saddles at number 6, The Producers at number 11, and Young Frankenstein at number 13.
Known For
Filmography
Spaceballs: The New One
Addicted to It
The Land of Sometimes
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
Flower of the Dawn
John Candy: I Like Me
Paddy Chayefsky: Collector of Words
From Darkness to Light
Mel Brooks: Seriously... Well, Almost
Remembering Gene Wilder
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love
History of the World: Part II
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
The Automat
Only Murders in the Building
Forky Asks a Question: What Is Love?
Forky Asks a Question
Toy Story 4
The Great Buster: A Celebration
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
Somebody Feed Phil
Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies
Mel Brooks: The Genius Entertainer
If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
Ballerina
To Tell the Truth
It's Always About the Story: Conversations with Alan Ladd, Jr.
The Last Laugh
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
Hotel Transylvania 2
Mel Brooks: Live at the Geffen
Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West
Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
Mel Brooks Strikes Back!
In the Beginning: The Caesar Years
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
Excavating the 2000 Year Old Man
Inside Comedy
Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again
The Great Dictator: The Clown Turns Prophet
The Paul Reiser Show
Ruby's Studio: the Feelings Show
Making History: Mel Brooks on Creating the World
Musical Mel: Inventing The Inquisition
Silent Laughter: The Reel Inspirations of 'Silent Movie'
Hitchcock and Mel: Spoofing the Master of Suspense
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
Glenn Martin, DDS
Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1980s, 1990s and 2000s
Spaceballs: The Animated Series
Spaceballs: The Totally Warped Animated Adventures
Hitler: The Comedy Years
Cutting Edge Comedians of the '60s & '70s
Legends
The Dick Cavett Show with Mel Brooks
The Producers
Spaceballs: The Documentary
Spaceballs: In Conversation - Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
John Candy: Comic Spirit
Robots
Broadway: The American Musical
Parkinson
Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks
Real Time with Bill Maher
Life Stinks: Does Life Really Stink?
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Sid Caesar Collection: Buried Treasures - The Legend of Sid Caesar
The Making of 'The Producers'
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
The Terrible Elephant Man Revealed
Recording the Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks
Primetime Glick
Back in the Saddle
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The Sid Caesar Collection: Inside the Writer's Room
The Sid Caesar Collection: Creating the Comedy
Sex, Lies and Video Violence
Screw Loose
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
Caesar's Writers
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
The Frank Skinner Show
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
The Little Rascals
The Silence of the Hams
RTL Samstag Nacht
Live & Kicking
Frasier
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' – The Legend Had It Coming
Mickey's Audition
Mad About You
Noel's House Party
Life Stinks
Look Who's Talking Too
The Simpsons
Saturday Night Clive
Free to Be... a Family
Spaceballs
Sunset People
An Audience with Mel Brooks
To Be or Not to Be
Wogan
Champs-Elysées
History of the World: Part I
The Muppet Movie
The Muppets Go Hollywood
Mickey's 50
Peeping Times
An Audience with...
Ciné regards
High Anxiety
Please Turn the Page
Silent Movie
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
When Things Were Rotten
The 2000 Year Old Man
Young Frankenstein
Free to Be… You and Me
Blazing Saddles
Flick Flack
Film '72
The Electric Company
Great Performances
The Twelve Chairs
Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man
The Dick Cavett Show
The Producers
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
The Hollywood Palace
The Critic
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Mike Douglas Show
The New Steve Allen Show
The Grammys
The David Susskind Show
Tony Awards
The Wonderful World of Disney
The Oscars
Golden Globe Awards
Untitled Lani Pixels Project
Enormous
Untitled Nathan Lane Documentary
Funny Men in Tights: Three Generations of Comedy
Grown Ups 3