Mel Brooks

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 Caesars variety show Your Show of Shows19501954 There he worked with Neil Simon Woody Allen Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner With Reiner he cocreated 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 19651970 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 Institutes list of the top 100 comedy films of the past 100 years 19002000 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