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Mel Brooks (born June 28, 1926)[1] is a Jewish American actor, comedian, writer, movie director, and producer. When he was born in Brooklyn, his name was Melvin Kaminsky.[2][3]
He has directed, produced and written several movies. Most of these are comedies that make references to other movies.
Legacy[change | change source]
Brooks is one of the few artists who have received an Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy. He was awarded his first Grammy 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 of 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 special. He went on to win three Emmys in 1997, 1998, and 1999 for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role of Uncle Phil on Mad About You. He won his three Tony awards in 2001 for his work on the musical, The Producers for Best Musical, Best Original Musical Score, and Best Book of a Musical. He also won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award for Young Frankenstein. Three of Brooks's movies are on the American movie Institute's list of funniest American films: Blazing Saddles (#6), The Producers (#11), and Young Frankenstein (#13).
Brooks worked with some people many times. Performers who worked on three or more of Brooks' movies are: Gene Wilder, Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Ron Carey, Dick Van Patten and Andréas Voutsinas.
On December 5, 2009 Brooks was one of five recipients of the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.[4]
On April 23, 2010 Brooks was awarded the 2,406th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[5]
Personal life[change | change source]
Brooks was married to Florence Baum from 1953 to 1962. Their marriage ended in divorce. Mel and Florence had three children, Stephanie, Nicky, and Eddie.
Brooks was married to the actress Anne Bancroft from 1964 until her death from uterine cancer on June 6, 2005. They met at a rehearsal for the Perry Como Variety Show in 1961 and married three years later. Their son, Max Brooks, was born in 1972. In 2010, Brooks said Bancroft was the main force behind his involvement in making The Producers and Young Frankenstein for the musical theater.[6]
Work[change | change source]
Writer/director[change | change source]
- The Producers (1968) (Academy Award, best original screenplay)
- The Twelve Chairs (1970) (also actor)
- Blazing Saddles (1974) (also actor)
- Young Frankenstein (1974)
- Silent Movie (1976) (also actor)
- High Anxiety (1977) (also actor/producer)
- History of the World, Part I (1981) (also actor/producer)
- Spaceballs (1987) (also actor/producer)
- Life Stinks (1991) (also actor/producer)
- Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) (also actor/producer)
- Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) (also actor/producer)
Theatre[change | change source]
- Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952 (1952) (sketches for a revue)
- Shinbone Alley (1957) (co-book-writer)
- All-American (1962) (book-writer)
- The Producers (2001) (composer, lyricist, co-book-writer, producer; Tony Award for Best Musical, Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, Tony Award for Best Original Score, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical)
- Young Frankenstein (2007) (composer, lyricist, co-book-writer, producer)
Other credits[change | change source]
- Your Show of Shows (TV) (1950–1954) (writer)
- New Faces of 1952 (Broadway) (1952) (writer) and "New Faces", the 1954 movie version (writer)
- The Critic (created and narrated, won Academy Award for Best Animated Short movie) (1963)
- Get Smart (TV) (1965–1970) (co-creator, writer)
- The Electric Company (TV) (1971–1977) (voice of recurring little cartoon man who asks: "Who's the dummy writing this show?!")
- Hollywood Squares (1972) (Guest star)
- When Things Were Rotten (1975) (co-created, writer)
- The Muppet Movie (1979) (Special Guest Star-Mad Scientist Professor Max Krassman)
- The Elephant Man (1980) (uncredited executive producer)
- To Be or Not to Be (1983) (actor, producer)
- The Fly (1986) (uncredited producer)
- The Fly II (1989) (uncredited producer)
- The Nutt House (1989) (co-creator)
- The Tracey Ullman Show (1990) (actor-Buzz Schlanger)
- Look Who's Talking Too (1990) (voice of Mr. Toilet Man)
- Frasier (1993) (voice of Tom)
- Rugrats (1994)
- The Little Rascals (1994) (actor-Mr. Welling)
- Silence of the Hams (1994) (actor-Checkout Guest)
- The Simpsons (1995, "Homer vs. Patty and Selma") (voice-himself)
- Caesar's Writers (1996) (himself, panel member)[7]
- Mad About You (TV) (1996–1999) (actor-Uncle Phil)
- The Prince of Egypt (1998) (uncredited, additional voices)
- Svitati (AKA Screw Loose) (1999) (actor-Jake Gordon)
- It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) (voice of Joe Snow)
- The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius: Season 2 (2003) (voice of Santa Claus)
- Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks (2003–2007) (voice of Wiley the Sheep)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 4 (2004) (actor)
- Robots (2005) (voice of Bigweld)
- The Producers (2005) (writer, producer, cameo as himself)
- Spaceballs: The Animated Series (2008) (writer, producer, voice)
- Get Smart (2008) (Consultant)
- The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History (2009) DVD [8]
- The Wizard of Oz (2012) (actor-The Wizard of Oz)
References[change | change source]
- ↑ Mel Brooks on IMDb
- ↑ "Mel Brooks Biography (1926-)" at Filmreference.com
- ↑ "Mel Brooks is on a roll. As his hit revival of The Producers comes to London". Archived from the original on 2011-11-30. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ↑ Mel Brooks laughs his way to Kennedy Center honor - washingtonpost.com
- ↑ "Mel Brooks gets Hollywood Walk of Fame star". MSN.[permanent dead link]
- ↑ Carucci, John (2010-03-03). "Brooks recalls Anne Bancroft as wife, collaborator". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ↑ Caesar's Writers | About[permanent dead link]
- ↑ LA Times revue
Other websites[change | change source]
- Mel Brooks at the Internet Broadway Database
- Mel Brooks on IMDb
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