Mel Brooks
Biography
Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; born 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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Mel Brooks, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
President Skroob / Yogurt
Spaceballs
Moses / Comicus / Torquemada / Jacques / King Louis XVI
History of the World: Part I
Self
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
Checkout Guest (uncredited)
Il silenzio dei prosciutti
Mr. Welling
The Little Rascals
Mel Funn
Silent Movie
Professor Max Krassman
The Muppet Movie
Governor William J. Le Petomane / Indian Chief
Blazing Saddles
Goddard Bolt
Life Stinks
Dr. Frederick Bronski
To Be or Not to Be
Rabbi Tuckman
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Tikon
The Twelve Chairs
Prof. Abraham Van Helsing
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke
High Anxiety
Bigweld (voice)
Robots
Self
Excavating the 2000 Year Old Man
Self
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
Jake Gordon
Screw Loose
Singer in 'Springtime for Hitler' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hitler: The Comedy Years
Announcer (voice)
Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love
Self
Making History: Mel Brooks on Creating the World
Self (archive footage)
Cutting Edge Comedians of the '60s & '70s
Self
Musical Mel: Inventing The Inquisition
Self
Free to Be... a Family
Narrator (voice)
The Critic
Self
Mel Brooks Strikes Back!
Stressed old man
Sex, Lögner & Videovåld
Self
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
Self
Silent Laughter: The Reel Inspirations of 'Silent Movie'
Baby Boy (voice)
Free to Be… You and Me
Self
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
Self
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
Mr. Toilet Man (voice)
Look Who's Talking Too
Vlad (voice)
Hotel Transylvania 2
Self
Mel Brooks: Live at the Geffen
Self
Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again
Himself
Sid Caesar Collection: Buried Treasures - The Legend of Sid Caesar
Self
Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies
Self
Remembering Gene Wilder
Albert Einstein (voice)
Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Lion victim (voice)
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Self
Caesar's Writers
Self
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
Werewolf / Cat Hit by Dart / Victor Frankenstein (voice)
Young Frankenstein
Self
Sunset People
Self
The Last Laugh
Bürgermeister (voice)
Flower of the Dawn
Self
The Dick Cavett Show with Mel Brooks
Himself
Mel Brooks: The Genius Entertainer
Shogun (voice)
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
Self
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
Self
If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
Self (archive footage)
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
Mustachioed Creep (voice)
Ballerina
Self
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Movie Director
Mickey's Audition
Joe Snow (voice)
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
Self
An Audience with Mel Brooks
Luteau (voice)
Ballerina
Gatekeeper (voice)
Untitled Lani Pixels Project
Himself
It's Always About the Story: Conversations with Alan Ladd, Jr.
Adolf Hitler
Peeping Times
Vlad (voice)
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
Himself
The Sid Caesar Collection: Creating the Comedy
Himself
The Sid Caesar Collection: Inside the Writer's Room
Himself
Annie: the Women in the Life of a Man
Singer in "Springtime for Hitler" (voice) (uncredited)
The Producers
Self
The Great Buster: A Celebration
2000 Year Old Man (voice)
The 2000 Year Old Man
Self
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
Self
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
Melephant Brooks (voice)
Toy Story 4
Hilda the Pigeon / Tom the Cat (voice)
The Producers
Self
The Terrible Elephant Man Revealed
Self
Hitchcock and Mel: Spoofing the Master of Suspense
Self
Mickey's 50
Self / Host
Recording the Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks
Melephant Brooks (voice)
Forky Asks a Question: What Is Love?
Self
In the Beginning: The Caesar Years
Self
Life Stinks: Does Life Really Stink?
Self
'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' – The Legend Had It Coming
Self
Spaceballs: In Conversation - Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
Self
The Making of 'The Producers'
Self
Back in the Saddle
Self
John Candy: Comic Spirit
Self
The Automat
Self (archive footage)
The Great Dictator: The Clown Turns Prophet
Self
The Muppets Go Hollywood
Self (archive)
Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1980s, 1990s and 2000s
President Skroob/Yogurt
Spaceballs: The Totally Warped Animated Adventures
Self (archive footage)
Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West
Self
Mel Brooks: Seriously... Well, Almost
Self - Director
David Lynch, une énigme à Hollywood
Sally Simon Simmons Narrator
Ruby's Studio: the Feelings Show
Self (archive footage)
From Darkness to Light
President Skroob / Yogurt
Spaceballs 2
Self
Spaceballs: The Documentary
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
97
Gender
Male
Birthday
1926-06-28
Place of Birth
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
Melvin James Kaminsky