Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Melvin James Kaminsky , مل بروکس

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 103

TV Involvements: 15


Most Famous Work

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.

Most Famous Work

Get Smart
Average
8

Get Smart

(1965) Creator
Spaceballs
Average
7

Spaceballs

(1987) Director
The Fly
Average
7

The Fly

(1986) Producer
When Things Were Rotten
Average
7
History of the World: Part II
Average
6
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
Average
7

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank

(2022) Original Film Writer
Get Smart
Average
6

Get Smart

(2008) Characters
History of the World: Part I
Average
7

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2024 Self
2023 Self
Announcer (voice)
Narrator
2022 Shogun (voice)
2021 Self
Mel Brooks
2019 Melephant Brooks (voice)
Melephant Brooks (voice)
2018 Self
Vlad (voice)
Self
Self
2017 Self
Self
Self
2016 Mustachioed Creep (voice)
Luteau (voice)
Self - Panelist
Himself
Self
Self
2015 Vlad (voice)
Self
2014 Albert Einstein (voice)
2013 Self
Self
2012 Self
Self
Self
Self
Self
2011 Self
Self (archive footage)
2009 Self
Self
Self
Self
Self
N/A
2008 President Skroob / Yogurt (voice)
2007 Singer in 'Springtime for Hitler' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Self (archive footage)
2006 Mel Funn (archive footage) (uncredited)
Self
2005 Hilda the Pigeon / Tom the Cat (voice)
Self
Self
Bigweld (voice)
2004 Self
2003 Joe Snow (voice)
Wiley (voice)
Self
Self
Himself
2002 Self
Santa Claus (voice)
2001 Self
Self / Host
N/A
Self
2000 Mel Brooks
Himself
Himself
Stressed old man
1999 Jake Gordon
1998 Self
Self (archive footage)
1997 Self
1996 Self
1995 Prof. Abraham Van Helsing
Self
1994 Self
Mr. Welling
Checkout Guest (uncredited)
1993 N/A
Tom (voice)
Rabbi Tuckman
Self
1992 Movie Director
Uncle Phil
1991 N/A
Goddard Bolt
1990 Mr. Toilet Man (voice)
1989 Mel Brooks (voice)
N/A
1988 Self
1987 President Skroob / Yogurt
1984 N/A
Self
1983 Dr. Frederick Bronski
1982 Self
Self
1981 Moses / Comicus / Torquemada / Jacques / King Louis XVI
1979 Professor Max Krassman
Self
1978 Self
Adolf Hitler
Self
1977 Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke
Self
1976 Mel Funn
1975 Lion victim (voice)
2000 Year Old Man (voice)
1974 Werewolf / Cat Hit by Dart / Victor Frankenstein (voice)
Baby Boy (voice)
Governor William J. Le Petomane / Indian Chief
N/A
1971 N/A
Self
1970 Tikon
Himself
1968 Self - Guest
Singer in "Springtime for Hitler" (voice) (uncredited)
1967 Self
1964 Self - Comedian
Self
1963 Narrator (voice)
1962 Self
1961 Self
1959 Self
1954 Self
1953 Self
Gatekeeper (voice)
Bürgermeister (voice)
Himself
Melephant Brooks
Year Character Movie/Tv

Production

Writing

Year Role Movie/Tv
2023 Writer
2022 Original Film Writer
2019 Writer
Lyricist
2015 Writer
2008 Characters
2005 Screenplay
1995 Screenplay
1993 Screenplay
1991 Screenplay
Story
1987 Screenplay
1984 Writer
1981 Screenplay
1980 Characters
1977 Writer
1976 Screenplay
1975 Writer
1974 Screenplay
Screenstory
Screenplay
Lyricist
1970 Screenplay
Author
Writer
Writer
1968 Writer
Lyricist
1967 Writer
1965 Writer
1963 Writer
1954 Writer
Year Role Movie/Tv

Creator

Sound

Crew

Year Role Movie/Tv
2014 Thanks
1963 Creator
Year Role Movie/Tv

Directing


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