Mel Brooks

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Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks (born Melvin Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
director

Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
, writer

Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms....
, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
, lyricist

Lyricist

A lyricist is a writer who specializes in song lyrics, usually paid for by a band to write a custom song. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist....
, comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain members of an audience, primarily by making them laughter. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy....
, actor

Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
and producer

Film producer

A film producer is someone who creates the conditions for making film. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors....
, best known as a creator of broad film farce

Farce

A farce is a comedy written for the stage or film which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include sexual innuendo and word play, and a fast-paced Plot whose speed usually increases, culminat...
s and comic parodies

Parody

A parody , in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation....
. Brooks is a member of the short list of entertainers with the distinction of having won an Emmy

Emmy Award

The Emmy Award, also known as the 'Emmy', is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards....
, a Grammy

Grammy Award

The Grammy Awards ?or Grammys?are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry....
, an Oscar and a Tony

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live United States theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City....
award. Three of his films (Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles is a satire Western #Western movies comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, it was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft....
, The Producers and Young Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein

Young Frankenstein is a 1974 in film comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilder as the title character. Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman also star....
) ranked in the Top 20 on the American Film Institute

American Film Institute

The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B....
's list of the Top 100 comedy films of all-time.

ks was born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is one of the five Borough of New York City, located at the western end of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area....
, New York

New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
, the son of Kate (née

Married and maiden names

A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage, and in speaking of the many cultures where the practice is traditional for women, the maiden name is the family name that the married name replaces....
Brookman), a garment worker, and Max Kaminsky, a process server.

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Biography

Early life

Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
, the son of Kate (née

Married and maiden names

Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish; his mother's parents emigrated from outside Kiev

Kiev

Kiev, also known as Kyiv , is the Capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River....
and his paternal family from Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
. His father died of kidney disease at age 34.

As a child, Brooks was a small and sickly boy. He was bullied and picked on by his peers. By taking on the comically aggressive job of Tummler in various Catskills resorts, he overcame his childhood of bullying and name calling.

Brooks was educated in Brooklyn at elementary Public School 19 (Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and Bushwick, Brooklyn....
), Francis Scott Key Junior High (Williamsburg) and Abraham Lincoln High School. In June 1944, he enlisted in the Army. After basic training at the Virginia Military Institute

Virginia Military Institute

The Virginia Military Institute , located in Lexington, Virginia, is the oldest State university system military academy and one of six Senior Military College in the United States....
, he finished up at Fort Sill

Fort Sill

Fort Sill is a United States Army post near Lawton, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.Today, Fort Sill remains the only active Army installation of all the forts on the South Plains built during the Indian Wars....
in Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a U.S. state and a sovereignty located in the South Central United States and Southern United States of the United States of America ....
and was shipped off to war in February 1945. He served briefly as a forward observer for the artillery, and was then reassigned to the 1104th Combat Engineers Group. Several months later, Germany surrendered and Brooks was promoted to corporal. He continued to serve in Germany for another four months in Special Services (entertainment). Brooks completed his service at Fort Dix in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
.

Early career

Brooks started out in show business as a stand-up comic, telling jokes and doing movie-star impressions. He found more rewarding work behind the scenes, becoming a comedy writer for television. He joined the hit comedy series Your Show of Shows with Sid Caesar

Sid Caesar

Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy Award-winning United States comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2....
and Carl Reiner

Carl Reiner

Carl Reiner is an United States actor, film director, television producer, writer and comedian. He has won nine Emmy Awards during his career....
. Reiner, as creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show

The Dick Van Dyke Show is an United States television situation comedy which initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 and ran until June 1, 1966....
, based Morey Amsterdam

Morey Amsterdam

Morey Amsterdam was a veteran United States television actor and comedian, renowned for his large, ready supply of jokes. He is probably best known for his role as Buddy Sorrell on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 1960s....
's character Buddy Sorell on Brooks.

Brooks later moved into film, working as an actor, director, writer, and producer. Brooks' first film was The Critic
The Critic (cartoon)

The Critic is a 1963 short animation by director/producer Ernest Pintoff and creator/narrator Mel Brooks, that won an Academy Award for Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 1963....
(1963), an animated satire of arty, esoteric cinema, conceived by Brooks and directed by Ernest Pintoff

Ernest Pintoff

Ernest Pintoff was an Academy Awards-winning United States film director and television director, screenwriter and film producer.He won the Oscar for Best Animated Short for The Critic , a satire on modern art written and narrated by Mel Brooks....
. Brooks supplied running commentary as the baffled moviegoer trying to make sense of the obscure visuals. The short film won an Academy Award. With Buck Henry

Buck Henry

Henry Zuckerman, better known as Buck Henry , is an United States actor, writer, film director, and television director....
, Brooks created the successful TV series Get Smart
Get Smart

Get Smart is an United States comedy television series that Satire the Spy fiction genre. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 of CONTROL, a secret U.S....
, starring Don Adams

Don Adams

Don Adams was an United States actor, comedian, game show panelist and occasional Film director, who in his five decades of television was best known for his role as Maxwell Smart in the TV situation comedy Get Smart , for which he also directed and wrote....
as a bumbling secret agent. This series added to Brooks' reputation as a clever satirist.

Brooks' first feature film, The Producers
The Producers (1968 film)

The Producers is a comedy film written and directed by Mel Brooks, which tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who attempt to cheat their investors by deliberately producing a flop show on Broadway theatre....
, was a dark comedy about two theatrical partners who deliberately contrive the worst possible Broadway show. The film was so brazen in its satire (its big production number was "Springtime for Hitler

Springtime for Hitler

Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp With Eva and Adolf at Berchtesgaden is a Play within a play in Mel Brooks' 1968 film The Producers that has been remade both as film and musical....
") that the major studios wouldn't touch it, nor would many exhibitors. Brooks finally found an independent distributor, which released it like an art film, as a specialized attraction. The film received an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The film became a smash underground hit, first on the nationwide college circuit, then in revivals and on home video. Brooks later turned it into a musical, which became one of the most popular Broadway shows.

His two most financially successful films were released in 1974: Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles is a satire Western #Western movies comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, it was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft....
(co-written with Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III was an United States comedian, actor and writer.Pryor was a storyteller known for unflinching examinations of racism and customs in modern life, and was well-known for his frequent use of colorful, vulgar and profane language and racial epithets....
, Andrew Bergman

Andrew Bergman

Andrew Bergman is an United States screenwriter, film director, and novelist.Born in 1945, Bergman graduated from Binghamton University. He wrote the original screenplay for Mel Brooks's classic Blazing Saddles, and was among the co-writers who adapted it into its final state....
, Norman Steinberg and Alan Uger), and Young Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein

Young Frankenstein is a 1974 in film comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilder as the title character. Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman also star....
(co-written with Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder is an American Emmy Award-winning and twice Academy Award-nominated theatre and film actor, film director, screenwriter, and author....
). He followed these up with an audacious idea: the first feature-length silent comedy in four decades. Silent Movie
Silent Movie

Silent Movie is a 1976 in film comedy film directed by and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, Sid Caesar, Anne Bancroft, Henny Youngman, Liza Minnelli, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, and Paul Newman....
(1976) featured Brooks in his first leading role, with Dom DeLuise

Dom DeLuise

Marty Feldman

Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman was an England writer, comedian and actor, notable for Exophthalmos, the result of a thyroid condition known as Graves' disease....
as his sidekicks. The following year he released his Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, Order of the British Empire was a British filmmaker and film producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres....
parody High Anxiety
High anxiety

High anxiety is a non-technical term referring to a state of extreme fear or apprehension. It may also mean:* High Anxiety, a film by Mel Brooks...
, which was the first movie produced by Brooks himself.

Brooks developed a repertory company of sorts for his film work: performers with three or more of Brooks' films, (The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World: Part I, To Be or Not to Be, Spaceballs, Life Stinks, Robin hood: Men in Tights, and Dracula: Dead and Loving it), to their credit include Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder is an American Emmy Award-winning and twice Academy Award-nominated theatre and film actor, film director, screenwriter, and author....
, Dom DeLuise

Dom DeLuise

Madeline Kahn

Madeline Kahn was an American actor, known primarily for her comedic roles. Director Mel Brooks — who directed her in four films — said of her: "She is one of the most talented people that ever lived....
, Harvey Korman

Harvey Korman

Harvey Herschel Korman was an United States comedy actor who performed in television and film productions beginning in 1960. His big break was being a featured performer on The Danny Kaye Show, but he was probably best remembered for his performances on the sketch comedy series The Carol Burnett Show and in the comedy films of Mel Br...
, Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman is an United States actor of stage , film and television. She has won eight primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other female performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award....
, Ron Carey

Ron Carey (actor)

Ron Carey was an United States Cinema of the United States and Television in the United States actor.Born Ronald Joseph Cicenia in Newark, New Jersey, the 5ft 4in actor was best known for playing cocky Officer Carl Levitt on TV's Barney Miller, in which he was almost always surrounded by male actors who stood at least 4" taller....
and Andréas Voutsinas

Andréas Voutsinas

Andr?as Voutsinas is a Greek actor. In the English speaking world, he is best known for his roles in three Mel Brooks films:- 1968's The Producers , 1970's The Twelve Chairs and 1981's History of the World, Part I....
. Dom DeLuise

Dom DeLuise

Dominick "Dom" DeLuise is a Golden Globe- nominated United States actor, comedian, film director, television producer, and chef. He is the husband of actress Carol Arthur, and the father of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise, and actors David DeLuise and Michael DeLuise....
has appeared in six of Brooks' 12 films, the only person with more appearances being Brooks himself. In 1975, at the height of his movie career, Brooks tried TV again with When Things Were Rotten
When Things Were Rotten

When Things Were Rotten was an United States situation comedy television series created in 1975 by Mel Brooks and aired for half a season by American Broadcasting Company....
, a Robin Hood

Robin Hood

Robin Hood is an archetype figure in English folklore, whose story originates from Middle Ages times but who remains significant in popular culture where he is known for robbing the rich to give to the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny....
parody that lasted only 13 episodes. Nearly 20 years later, Brooks mounted another Robin Hood parody with Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 in film comedy of the story of Robin Hood. Produced and directed by Mel Brooks, the film stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis , and Dave Chappelle....
.

Later career

In 1980, Brooks became interested in producing the dramatic film The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man (film)

The Elephant Man is a American film loosely based on the story of Joseph Merrick , a severely deformity man in 19th century London. The film was directed by David Lynch and stars John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Michael Elphick, Hannah Gordon and Freddie Jones....
(directed by David Lynch

David Lynch

David Keith Lynch is an United States film director, screenwriter, Film producer, Painting, cartoonist, composer, video artist and performance artist....
). Knowing that anyone seeing a poster reading "Mel Brooks presents The Elephant Man would expect a comedy, he set up the company Brooksfilms. Brooksfilms has since produced a number of non-comedy films, including David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg

David Paul Cronenberg, Order of Canada, Royal Society of Canada is a Canada film director, screenwriter, and occasional actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre....
's The Fly

The Fly (1986 film)

The Fly is an American science fiction horror film released in . Produced by Mel Brooks and 20th Century Fox, directed by David Cronenberg, and starring Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz, it is a big budget remake of the The Fly of the same name, but with a substantially different Plot ....
, Frances

Frances

Frances is a 1982 in film Universal Studios drama film starring Jessica Lange, Kim Stanley, Sam Shepard. When it was released this film was advertised as a purportedly true account of actress Frances Farmer's life but the script was largely fictional and sensationalized....
, and 84 Charing Cross Road

84 Charing Cross Road (film)

84 Charing Cross Road is a 1987 in film United Kingdom/United States drama film directed by David Jones . The screenplay by Hugh Whitemore is based on a play by James Roose-Evans, which itself was an adaptation of the 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, a compilation of letters between herself and Frank Doel dating from 1949 to 1968....
, starring Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, Order of the British Empire is a Welsh People film, theater and television actor. Considered by many to be one of film's greatest living actors, he is best known for his portrayal of cannibalism serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 in film blockbuster The Silence of the Lambs , its sequel, Hannibal ,...
and Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft

Anne Bancroft was an United States actress associated with the Method acting school of acting....
, as well as comedies, including Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin

Richard Benjamin is an American actor and film director.He has starred in a number of productions, including the 1969 film, Goodbye, Columbus based upon the novella of the same name by Philip Roth, and with Yul Brynner in Westworld in 1973....
's My Favorite Year

My Favorite Year

My Favorite Year is a 1982 in film comedy film which tells the story of a young comedy writer. It stars Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Lou Jacobi, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan, Selma Diamond, Cameron Mitchell and Gloria Stuart....
.

The 1980s saw Brooks produce and direct only two films, the first being History of the World Part I in 1981, a tongue-in-cheek look at human culture from the Dawn of Man to the French Revolution
French Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudalism for the aristocracy and Roman Catholic Church clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Age of Enlightenment principles of cit...
. As part of the film's soundtrack, Brooks, then aged 55, recorded a rap entitled "It's Good to Be the King", a parody of Louis XVI and the French Revolution
French Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudalism for the aristocracy and Roman Catholic Church clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Age of Enlightenment principles of cit...
; it was released as a single, and became an unlikely US dance hit. His second movie release of the decade came in 1987 in the form of Spaceballs

Spaceballs

Spaceballs is a 1987 science fiction parody film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks. It was released on June 24, 1987, and earned only modest returns, but has gone on to become a seminal cult film on video....
, a parody of science fiction
Science fiction

Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media....
, mainly Star Wars

Star Wars

Star Wars is an epic film space opera Media franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels....
. Both films featured him in multiple roles. He also starred in the 1983 remake To Be or Not to Be

To Be or Not to Be (1983 film)

To Be or Not to Be is a 1983 in film 20th Century Fox comedy-drama directed by Alan Johnson , produced by Mel Brooks with Howard Jeffrey as executive producer and Irene Walzer as associate producer....
, which even spawned a highly controversial single, "To Be Or Not To Be (The Hitler Rap)". It was only part of the soundtrack (but not part of the movie) and made fun of the German society in the 1940s and showed Mel Brooks himself as Hitler. The single got banned from both radio airplay and television in Germany due to its controversial lyrics and video footage. In the U. S., it peaked at #12 on the Billboard charts in February 1984.

Brooks' most recent success has been a transfer of his film The Producers

The Producers (1968 film)

The Producers is a comedy film written and directed by Mel Brooks, which tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who attempt to cheat their investors by deliberately producing a flop show on Broadway theatre....
to the Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
stage. Brooks also had a vocal role in the 2005 animated film Robots

Robots (film)

Robots is a 2005 in film United States CGI-animated comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox , and was released theatrically on March 11 2005 ....
. He is currently working on an animated series sequel
Sequel

A sequel is a work in literature, film, or other media that portrays events following those of a previous work.In many cases, the sequel continues elements of the original story, often with the same characters and settings....
to Spaceballs. Spaceballs: The TV Series premiered on September 21, 2008 on G4 TV.

Brooks is one of the few artists who have received an Oscar
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
, Emmy
Emmy Award

The Emmy Award, also known as the 'Emmy', is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards....
, Tony
Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live United States theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City....
, and Grammy
Grammy Award

The Grammy Awards ?or Grammys?are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry....
. He was awarded his first Grammy award for Best Spoken Comedy Album in 1999 for his recording of The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000 with Carl Reiner. His two other Grammys came in 2002 for Best Musical Show Album, for the soundtrack to The Producers, and for Best Long Form Music Video for the DVD "Recording the Producers - A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks". He won his first of four Emmy awards in 1967 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Variety for a Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar

Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy Award-winning United States comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2....
special. He went on to win three consecutive Emmys in 1997, 1998, and 1999 for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role of Uncle Phil on Mad About You

Mad About You

Mad About You is an United States sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 23, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City....
. He won his three Tony awards in 2001 for his work on the musical, The Producers. He won Tonys for Best Musical, Best Original Musical Score, and Best Book of a Musical. Additionally, he won a Hugo Award
Hugo Award

The Hugo Awards are given every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories....
and a Nebula Award
Nebula Award

The Nebula Award is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the two previous years ....
for Young Frankenstein. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted #50 of the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. Three of Brooks' films are on the American Film Institute
American Film Institute

The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B....
's list of funniest American films
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs

Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs is a list of the top 100 comedy movies in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 14, 2000....
: Blazing Saddles (#6), The Producers (#11), and Young Frankenstein (#13).

Brooks and his wife Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft

Anne Bancroft was an United States actress associated with the Method acting school of acting....
acted together in Silent Movie and To Be or Not to Be, and Bancroft also had a bit part in the 1995 film Dracula: Dead and Loving It

Dracula: Dead and Loving It

Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 in film comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. It is a parody of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, and of some of the films it inspired....
. Years later, the Brookses appeared as themselves in the fourth season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy starring Seinfeld writer, co-creator, and executive producer Larry David as himself, and produced and broadcast by Home Box Office....
, spoofing the finale of The Producers. It is reported that Bancroft encouraged Brooks (after an idea suggested by David Geffen) to take The Producers to Broadway where it became an enormous success, as the show broke the Tony record with 12 wins, a record that had previously been held for 37 years by Hello, Dolly!

Hello, Dolly! (musical)

Hello, Dolly! is a Musical theater with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart , based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
at 10 wins. Such success has translated to a big-screen version of the Broadway adaptation/remake with actors Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick

Matthew Broderick is an United States award-winning film and stage actor who is best known for his roles as the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Nick in Godzilla and David Lightman in WarGames....
and Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane

Nathan Lane is a two-time Tony and Emmy Award-winning United States actor of theatre and film. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers , Ernie Smuntz in Mousehunt, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and his voice work...
reprising their stage roles, in addition to new cast members Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman

Uma Karuna Thurman Hawke , better known as Uma Thurman, is an American actress. She performs predominantly in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedy film and dramas to science fiction film and Action movie Thriller s....
and Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell

'John William' "'Will'" 'Ferrell' is an United States comedian, actor, voice actor, and writer who first established himself as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, and has since gone on to a successful film career, starring in the comedies A Night at the Roxbury , Old School , Elf , Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Bur...
. As of early April 2006, Brooks had begun composing
Musical composition

Musical composition is:* an original piece of music* the musical form of a musical piece* the process of creating a new piece of music...
the score to a Broadway musical adaptation of Young Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein (musical)

Young Frankenstein, officially known as The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, is a musical theatre with a book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Brooks....
, which he says is "perhaps the best movie [he] ever made." The world premiere was performed at Seattle's most historic theatre (originally built as a movie palace), The Paramount Theatre, between August 7, 2007, and September 1, 2007 after which it opened on Broadway at the Hilton Theatre
Hilton Theatre

The Hilton Theatre is a Broadway theatre theatre located at 213 West 42nd Street in Manhattan.The theatre was built in 1996-98 on the site of the Apollo and Lyric Theatre Theatres....
, New York, on October 11, 2007. It has since earned moderate to poor reviews from the critics. TIME
Time

Time is a component of the measurement used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects....
reports, "Mel Brooks is no longer the inspired amateur. Now he's a Broadway monster, repeating himself."

In interviews broadcast on WABC radio, Brooks has discussed with NYC radio personality Mark Simone
Mark Simone

Mark Simone is an United States radio personality. He can be heard on WABC in New York.Simone appears occasionally on CNN, MSNBC and PBS. He also occasionally fills in for other ABC Radio hosts such as Don Imus, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity....
the possibilities of turning other works from his creative oeuvre (such as the movie Blazing Saddles) into future musical productions. Specifically, in a conversation airing March 1, 2008, he and Simone speculated on what show tunes might be incorporated into a theatrical adaptation of the Get Smart

Get Smart

Get Smart is an United States comedy television series that Satire the Spy fiction genre. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 of CONTROL, a secret U.S....
property.

Personal life
Brooks was married to Florence Baum from 1951 to 1961. Their marriage ended in divorce. Mel and Florence had three children, Stephanie, Nicky, and Eddie.

Brooks was married to the actress Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft

Anne Bancroft was an United States actress associated with the Method acting school of acting....
from 1964 until her death from uterine cancer on June 6, 2005. They met on rehearsal for the Perry Como
Perry Como

Pierino "Perry" Como was an United States singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with it in 1943....
Variety Show
Variety show

A variety show or variety entertainment is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and comedy skits, and normally introduced by a Master of Ceremonies or Presenter....
in 1961 and married three years later, August 5th, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau
Manhattan Marriage Bureau

The Manhattan Marriage Bureau is a set of shabby offices located in the Manhattan Municipal Building near City Hall in lower Manhattan. It is the site of more marriages than any other venue in the United States....
. They had one son, Maximillian
Max Brooks

Maximillian Michael "Max" Brooks is an author and screenwriter....
, in 1972.

Work

Writer/director

The Producers
The Producers (1968 film)

The Producers is a comedy film written and directed by Mel Brooks, which tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who attempt to cheat their investors by deliberately producing a flop show on Broadway theatre....
(1968) (Academy Award
Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers....
, best original screenplay)
The Twelve Chairs
The Twelve Chairs (1970 film)

The Twelve Chairs is a 1970 slapstick comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, starring Frank Langella, Dom DeLuise and Ron Moody . The screenplay was written by Brooks....
(1970) (also actor)
Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles is a satire Western #Western movies comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, it was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft....
(1974) (also actor)
Young Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein

Young Frankenstein is a 1974 in film comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilder as the title character. Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman also star....
(1974)
Silent Movie
Silent Movie

Silent Movie is a 1976 in film comedy film directed by and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, Sid Caesar, Anne Bancroft, Henny Youngman, Liza Minnelli, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, and Paul Newman....
(1976) (also actor)
High Anxiety
High anxiety

High anxiety is a non-technical term referring to a state of extreme fear or apprehension. It may also mean:* High Anxiety, a film by Mel Brooks...
(1977) (also actor)
History of the World, Part I
History of the World, Part I

History of the World, Part I is a 1981 in film film written, produced and directed by Mel Brooks. As he does in many of his other films, Brooks also gives himself a great deal of time in front of the camera, this time playing five roles: Moses, Comicus the stand-up comedy philosopher, Tom?s de Torquemada, Louis XVI of France, and Jacques,...
(1981) (also actor/producer)
Spaceballs
Spaceballs

Spaceballs is a 1987 science fiction parody film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks. It was released on June 24, 1987, and earned only modest returns, but has gone on to become a seminal cult film on video....
(1987) (also actor/producer)
Life Stinks
Life Stinks

Life Stinks is a 1991 in film comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. It is known as one of the few Mel Brooks films that is not a parody film. The film co-stars Lesley Ann Warren and Jeffrey Tambor....
(1991) (also actor/producer)
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 in film comedy of the story of Robin Hood. Produced and directed by Mel Brooks, the film stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis , and Dave Chappelle....
(1993) (also actor/producer)
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Dracula: Dead and Loving It

Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 in film comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. It is a parody of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, and of some of the films it inspired....
(1995) (also actor/producer)

Theatre

Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952
New Faces of 1952

New Faces of 1952 is a musical revue with comedy skits tied together by a flimsy plot. Produced by Leonard Sillman, it ran on Broadway theatre for nearly a year and was then remade as a motion picture....
(1952) (sketches for a revue
Revue

A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre entertainment that combines music, dance and sketch comedy. The revue has its roots in nineteenth-century American popular entertainment and melodrama, but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from ca....
)
Shinbone Alley
Shinbone Alley

Shinbone Alley is a musical theatre with a book by Joe Darion and Mel Brooks, lyrics by Darion, and music by George Kleinsinger.Based on Archy and Mehitabel,...
(1957) (co-book-writer)
All-American
All-American (musical)

All American is a musical theatre with a book by Mel Brooks, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.Based on the Robert Lewis Taylor novel Professor Fodorski, it is set on the campus of the fictional Southern Baptist Institute of Technology, where the worlds of science and sports collide when the principles of engineering...
(1962) (book-writer)
The Producers
The Producers (musical)

The Producers is a comedy-Musical theater adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks' The Producers , with lyrics by Brooks and music by Brooks and Glen Kelly....
(2001) (composer, lyricist, co-book-writer, producer; Tony Award for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Musical

This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949....
, Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical
Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical

The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to libretto of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible....
,Tony Award for Best Original Score
Tony Award for Best Original Score

The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical theatre in that year....
)
Young Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein (musical)

Young Frankenstein, officially known as The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, is a musical theatre with a book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Brooks....
(2007) (composer, lyricist, co-book-writer, producer)

Other works

New Faces of 1952
New Faces of 1952

New Faces of 1952 is a musical revue with comedy skits tied together by a flimsy plot. Produced by Leonard Sillman, it ran on Broadway theatre for nearly a year and was then remade as a motion picture....
(Broadway) (1952) (writer) and "New Faces", the 1954 film version (writer)
Your Show of Shows
Your Show of Shows

Your Show of Shows was a live 90-minute sketch comedy television series appearing weekly in the United States on NBC, from February 25, 1950 until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca....
(TV) (1950-1954) (writer)
The Critic
The Critic (cartoon)

The Critic is a 1963 short animation by director/producer Ernest Pintoff and creator/narrator Mel Brooks, that won an Academy Award for Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 1963....
(short film, Academy Award winner for Short Subjects (Cartoons)
Academy Award for Animated Short Film

The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
(1963) (created and narrated)
Get Smart
Get Smart

Get Smart is an United States comedy television series that Satire the Spy fiction genre. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 of CONTROL, a secret U.S....
(TV) (1965-1970) (co-creator, writer)
When Things Were Rotten
When Things Were Rotten

When Things Were Rotten was an United States situation comedy television series created in 1975 by Mel Brooks and aired for half a season by American Broadcasting Company....
(1975) (co-created, writer)
The Electric Company
The Electric Company

*For other uses, see Electric company.*For the 2009 revival see The Electric Company .'The Electric Company' was an educational American children's television series that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop for PBS in the United States....
(TV) (1971-1977) (voice of recurring little cartoon man who asks: "Who's the dummy writing this show?!")
The Muppet Movie
The Muppet Movie

The Muppet Movie is the first of a series of live-action musical film feature films starring Jim Henson's Muppets. Released in 1979 in film, the film was produced by The Jim Henson Company under their second name and ITC Entertainment....
(1979) (actor-Prof. Max Krassman)
The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man (film)

The Elephant Man is a American film loosely based on the story of Joseph Merrick , a severely deformity man in 19th century London. The film was directed by David Lynch and stars John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Michael Elphick, Hannah Gordon and Freddie Jones....
(1980) (uncredited executive producer)
To Be or Not to Be
To Be or Not to Be (1983 film)

To Be or Not to Be is a 1983 in film 20th Century Fox comedy-drama directed by Alan Johnson , produced by Mel Brooks with Howard Jeffrey as executive producer and Irene Walzer as associate producer....
(1983) (actor, producer)
The Fly
The Fly (1986 film)

The Fly is an American science fiction horror film released in . Produced by Mel Brooks and 20th Century Fox, directed by David Cronenberg, and starring Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz, it is a big budget remake of the The Fly of the same name, but with a substantially different Plot ....
(1986) (uncredited producer)
The Fly II
The Fly II

The Fly II is a sci-fi film produced in 1989 in film starring Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga. It was directed by Chris Walas as a sequel to the 1986 in film movie The Fly ....
(1989) (uncredited producer)
The Tracy Ullman Show (1990) (actor-Buzz Schlanger)
Look Who's Talking Too
Look Who's Talking Too

Look Who's Talking Too is the 1990 in film sequel to the commercially successful movie Look Who's Talking . It stars Kirstie Alley and John Travolta as the parents of Mikey , a toddler coping with the newest addition to the family, baby Julie ....
(voice of Mr. Toilet Man)
Frasier
Frasier

Frasier is an American situation comedy broadcast on National Broadcasting Company for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993 to May 13, 2004....
(1993) (voice of Tom)
The Little Rascals (1994) (actor-Mr. Welling)
Silence of the Hams (1994) (actor-Checkout Guest)
The Prince of Egypt
The Prince of Egypt

The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 in film American animated film, the first traditionally animated film produced and released by DreamWorks. The story follows the life of Moses from his birth, through his childhood as a prince of Egypt, and finally to his ultimate destiny to lead the Hebrews slaves out of Egypt, which is based on the Biblical...
(1998) (uncredited, additional voices)
Svitati (AKA Screw Loose) (1999) (actor-Jake Gordon)
Mad About You
Mad About You

Mad About You is an United States sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 23, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City....
(TV) (1996-1999) (actor-Uncle Phil)
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie is an NBC television movie produced by Jim Henson Television in 2002 in film, starring Jim Henson's Muppets....
(TV) (2002) (voice of Joe Snow)
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius: Season 2
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is an American animated television series, and spin-off of the Academy Award nominated computer animation Film, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ....
(voice of Santa Claus)
Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks
Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks

Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks is a children's television series.Animated using Computer-generated imagery and broadcast in the United States on PBS Kids Channel and Univision ; in Ireland on RT? Two, as part of The Den ; in Australia on Australian Broadcasting Corporation; in Ontario on TVOKids; in the UK on BBC Two, and...
(2003-present) (voice of Wiley the Sheep)
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 4
Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy starring Seinfeld writer, co-creator, and executive producer Larry David as himself, and produced and broadcast by Home Box Office....
(actor)
Robots
Robots (film)

Robots is a 2005 in film United States CGI-animated comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox , and was released theatrically on March 11 2005 ....
(2005) (voice of Bigweld)
The Producers
The Producers (2005 film)

The Producers is a 2005 in film Cinema of the United States comedy film-musical film starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick and Uma Thurman....
(2005) (writer, producer)
Spaceballs: The Animated Series
Spaceballs: The Animated Series

Spaceballs: The Animated Series, also known as Spaceballs: The Series, is an animated television series based on the parody sci-fi film Spaceballs that was to be aired exclusively on G4 but has since been aired on both G4 and Canada's Super Channel ....
(2008) (writer, producer, voice)

External links

at The Numbers
The Numbers (website)

The Numbers is a website that tracks box office revenue. Bruce Nash started the site in October 1997. It also covers international territories, DVD sales and market analysis....
at The Numbers
The Numbers (website)

The Numbers is a website that tracks box office revenue. Bruce Nash started the site in October 1997. It also covers international territories, DVD sales and market analysis....
on NPR
National Public Radio

National Public Radio is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national Radio syndication to 797 public radio List of NPR stations in the United States....
's Fresh Air
Fresh Air

Fresh Air is a radio talk show hosted by Terry Gross, broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. In 2004, the show was syndicated to 445 stations and claimed 4.4 million listeners....
(March 16, 2005)

Mel Brooks

Biography

Early life

Early career

Later career

Personal life

Work

Writer/director

Theatre

Other works

See also

Further reading

External links