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.
146 acting credits · 11 directing credits
Acting · 146
The Simpsons
1989
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
Real Time with Bill Maher
2003
Frasier
1993
Curb Your Enthusiasm
2000
The Mike Douglas Show
1961
Golden Globe Awards
1944
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
Great Performances
1971
Mad About You
1992
Champs-Elysées
1982
Tony Awards
1956
Only Murders in the Building
2021
Wogan
1982
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
2002
The Dick Cavett Show
1968
Toy Story 4
2019
The Oscars
1953
An Audience with...
1978
To Tell the Truth
2016
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
2012
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
1968
Film '72
1971
History of the World: Part II
2023
The Electric Company
1971
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
2018
Robots
2005
Hotel Transylvania 2
2015
The Hollywood Palace
1964
Spaceballs
1987
Inside Comedy
2012
Legends
2006
Glenn Martin, DDS
2009
Primetime Glick
2001
Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks
2003
Ballerina
2016
RTL Samstag Nacht
1993
The Little Rascals
1994
The Frank Skinner Show
1995
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954
Mr. Peabody & Sherman
2014
Please Turn the Page
1977
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
2022
Somebody Feed Phil
2018
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
1993
Young Frankenstein
1974
Blazing Saddles
1974
The David Susskind Show
1959
When Things Were Rotten
1975
Noel's House Party
1991
Flick Flack
1974
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
1995
The Producers
2005
The Muppet Movie
1979
The Paul Reiser Show
2011
Spaceballs: The Animated Series
2008
The Producers
1968
Look Who's Talking Too
1990
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
2026
Life Stinks
1991
John Candy: I Like Me
2025
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
2002
Broadway: The American Musical
2004
High Anxiety
1977
The Land of Sometimes
2026
The Silence of the Hams
1994
History of the World: Part I
1981
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
2018
Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies
2017
Silent Movie
1976
The Last Laugh
2016
Spaceballs: The New One
2027
Saturday Night Clive
1989
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
1997
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
1994
To Be or Not to Be
1983
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
2016
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
2017
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
2023
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
1975
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
2013
Hitler: The Comedy Years
2007
The Twelve Chairs
1970
The Muppets Go Hollywood
1979
The Grammys
1959
Untitled Lani Pixels Project
—
The Great Buster: A Celebration
2018
An Audience with Mel Brooks
1984
Mickey's 50
1978
'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' – The Legend Had It Coming
1993
The Automat
2021
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
2009
Cutting Edge Comedians of the '60s & '70s
2007
Remembering Gene Wilder
2024
Flower of the Dawn
2025
Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1980s, 1990s and 2000s
2009
Sid Caesar Collection: Buried Treasures - The Legend of Sid Caesar
2003
If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
2017
Making History: Mel Brooks on Creating the World
2009
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
1998
From Darkness to Light
2025
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
2013
Free to Be… You and Me
1974
In the Beginning: The Caesar Years
2012
The Sid Caesar Collection: Creating the Comedy
2000
Paddy Chayefsky: Collector of Words
2025
The Making of 'The Producers'
2002
Back in the Saddle
2001
Spaceballs: The Totally Warped Animated Adventures
2008
Free to Be... a Family
1988
Silent Laughter: The Reel Inspirations of 'Silent Movie'
2009
Forky Asks a Question: What Is Love?
2019
Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man
1970
Screw Loose
1999
Mel Brooks: The Genius Entertainer
2017
Peeping Times
1978
Excavating the 2000 Year Old Man
2012
Recording the Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks
2001
The Great Dictator: The Clown Turns Prophet
2011
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
2018
Hitchcock and Mel: Spoofing the Master of Suspense
2009
Mickey's Audition
1992
Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love
2023
Mel Brooks: Live at the Geffen
2015
Sex, Lies and Video Violence
2000
The Critic
1963
The Sid Caesar Collection: Inside the Writer's Room
2000
Caesar's Writers
1996
Musical Mel: Inventing The Inquisition
2009
The 2000 Year Old Man
1975
Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West
2014
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
2025
Enormous
—
Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again
2011
Spaceballs: In Conversation - Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
2005
It's Always About the Story: Conversations with Alan Ladd, Jr.
2016
Sunset People
1984
John Candy: Comic Spirit
2005
The Terrible Elephant Man Revealed
2001
David Lynch: The Idea Dictates Everything
2021
Life Stinks: Does Life Really Stink?
2003
Spaceballs: The Documentary
2005
Mel Brooks Strikes Back!
2012
Ruby's Studio: the Feelings Show
2010
The Dick Cavett Show with Mel Brooks
2006
Mel Brooks: Seriously... Well, Almost
2024
Directing · 11
Spaceballs
1987
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
1993
Young Frankenstein
1974
Blazing Saddles
1974
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
1995
The Producers
1968
Life Stinks
1991
High Anxiety
1977
History of the World: Part I
1981
Silent Movie
1976
The Twelve Chairs
1970