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 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
The Simpsons
Mel Brooks (voice)
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Mel Brooks
Frasier
Tom (voice)
Only Murders in the Building
Mel Brooks
Great Performances
Self
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Santa Claus (voice)
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Nominee
Tony Awards
Self - Winner
Mad About You
Uncle Phil
Hotel Transylvania 2
Vlad (voice)
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
Vlad (voice)
Robots
Bigweld (voice)
The Oscars
Self
Toy Story 4
Melephant Brooks (voice)
History of the World: Part II
Narrator
John Candy: I Like Me
Self - Director, Spaceballs
To Tell the Truth
Self - Panelist
Life Stinks
Goddard Bolt
Spaceballs
President Skroob / Yogurt
The Little Rascals
Mr. Welling
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
Joe Snow (voice)
High Anxiety
Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Rabbi Tuckman
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Self (uncredited)
Glenn Martin, DDS
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Prof. Abraham Van Helsing
Ballerina
Mustachioed Creep (voice)
Ballerina
Luteau (voice)
The Muppet Movie
Professor Max Krassman
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
Shogun (voice)
Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Albert Einstein (voice)
Young Frankenstein
Werewolf / Cat / Victor Frankenstein (voice) (uncredited)
The Automat
Self
Somebody Feed Phil
Self
RTL Samstag Nacht
The Hollywood Palace
Self
Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks
Wiley (voice)
The Dick Cavett Show with Mel Brooks
Self
Screw Loose
Jake Gordon
The Twelve Chairs
Tikon
The Electric Company
Blazing Saddles
Governor William J. Le Petomane / Indian Chief
Silent Movie
Mel Funn
Silent Laughter: The Reel Inspirations of 'Silent Movie'
Self
Spaceballs: The Animated Series
President Skroob / Yogurt (voice)
Untitled Lani Pixels Project
Gatekeeper (voice)
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
Self
Free to Be… You and Me
Baby Boy (voice)
Legends
Mel Funn (archive footage) (uncredited)
To Be or Not to Be
Dr. Frederick Bronski
The Making of 'The Producers'
Self
The Producers
Singer in "Springtime for Hitler" (voice) (uncredited)
Mickey's Audition
Movie Director
John Candy: Comic Spirit
Self
The Land of Sometimes
The Postman (voice)
Hitler: The Comedy Years
Singer in 'Springtime for Hitler' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Free to Be... a Family
Self
Spaceballs 2
President Skroob / Yogurt
History of the World: Part I
Moses / Comicus / Torquemada / Jacques / King Louis XVI
Peeping Times
Adolf Hitler
The Producers
Hilda the Pigeon / Tom the Cat (voice)
The Wonderful World of Disney
Self
In the Beginning: The Caesar Years
Self
Noel's House Party
Look Who's Talking Too
Mr. Toilet Man (voice)
Mel Brooks: Live at the Geffen
Self
Mel Brooks Strikes Back!
Self
The Critic
Narrator (voice)
Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again
Self
When Things Were Rotten
Guard (uncredited)
Sunset People
Self
Spaceballs: The Documentary
Self
Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West
Self (archive footage)
Broadway: The American Musical
Self
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Self
The Silence of the Hams
Checkout Guest (uncredited)
The Paul Reiser Show
The Angry Cat (voice)
Recording the Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks
Self / Host
From Darkness to Light
Self (archive footage)
Saturday Night Clive
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Lion victim (voice)
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
The Great Buster: A Celebration
Self
The Last Laugh
Self
The 2000 Year Old Man
2000 Year Old Man (voice)
Cutting Edge Comedians of the '60s & '70s
Self (archive footage)
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
Self
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
Self
Remembering Gene Wilder
Self
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
Self
Paddy Chayefsky: Collector of Words
Self
Mickey's 50
Self
Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love
Announcer (voice)
Sex, Lies and Video Violence
Stressed old man
'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' – The Legend Had It Coming
Self
Enormous
Bernie (voice)
The Muppets Go Hollywood
Self
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
Self
If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
Self
Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies
Self
Forky Asks a Question: What Is Love?
Melephant Brooks (voice)
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
Self
The Terrible Elephant Man Revealed
Self
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
Self
Flower of the Dawn
Bürgermeister (voice)
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
Self
Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1980s, 1990s and 2000s
Self (archive)
It's Always About the Story: Conversations with Alan Ladd, Jr.
Himself
The Sid Caesar Collection: Inside the Writer's Room
Himself
Caesar's Writers
Self
Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man
Himself
The Great Dictator: The Clown Turns Prophet
Self (archive footage)
Back in the Saddle
Self
Excavating the 2000 Year Old Man
Self
The Sid Caesar Collection: Creating the Comedy
Himself
Sid Caesar Collection: Buried Treasures - The Legend of Sid Caesar
Himself
Hitchcock and Mel: Spoofing the Master of Suspense
Self
Mel Brooks: The Genius Entertainer
Himself
Spaceballs: In Conversation - Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
Self
An Audience with Mel Brooks
Self
Mel Brooks: Seriously... Well, Almost
Self
Life Stinks: Does Life Really Stink?
Self
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
Self (archive footage)
Ruby's Studio: the Feelings Show
Sally Simon Simmons Narrator
Musical Mel: Inventing The Inquisition
Self
Spaceballs: The Totally Warped Animated Adventures
President Skroob/Yogurt
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
Self
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
Self
Making History: Mel Brooks on Creating the World
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
David Lynch: The Idea Dictates Everything
Mel Brooks
Real Time with Bill Maher
Self
The Mike Douglas Show
Self
Champs-Elysées
Self
Wogan
Self
The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
Self
An Audience with...
Self
The Frank Skinner Show
Self
Inside Comedy
Self
Primetime Glick
The David Susskind Show
Self
Please Turn the Page
Self
Flick Flack
The Grammys
Self