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Mel Brooks Bio
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Mel Brooks
Satirical actor, writer, and director Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School, Mel served in the US Army as an engineer. While stationed in North Africa during World War II, some of his duties included defusing land mines in areas before the infantry moved in. After completing his service, Mel began working as a standup comedian for various resorts in the Catskills. At this time he also began writing comedy, and wrote for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows (later Caesar's Hour) along with Woody Allen and Neil Simon.
In 1951, Mel married his first wife, Florence Baum. The couple had three children (Stefanie, Nicky, and Eddie) before divorcing in 1961. In 1964, Mel married actress Anne Bancroft, three years after they first met at a rehearsal for The Perry Como Show. The couple had one child together, Maximillian (born in 1972), who currently works as a screenwriter. Both parents and their son have been recipients of Emmy awards.
In 1961, Mel teamed up with Carl Reiner to create the 2000 Year Old Man, a series of comedy records compiled of mostly ad-libbed bits. He also teamed up with Buck Henry to create the popular TV series Get Smart (1965-1970).
Mel eventually turned his multiple talents toward the big-screen, working as an actor, director, writer, and producer. His credits include The Producers (1968); Young Frankenstein (1974), co-written with Gene Wilder; and his signature film, Blazing Saddles (1974), co-written with Richard Pryor. It was not uncommon for many comedic performers of the day to make multiple appearances in Mel’s films – Gene Wilder, Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Ron Carey, Andréas Voutsinas, and Mel Brooks himself have all starred in three or more of his films.
In 1980, Mel began exploring the possibility of producing The Elephant Man directed by David Lynch. Around this time he also founded his own production company, Brooksfilm, which went on to produce a number of films that branched out from the comedy genre, including David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986), Frances (1982), and 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) starring Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft.
Mel and his wife teamed up together for three films. These included Brooks' 1983 remake of To Be or Not to Be, his 1995 film Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and his 1976 film Silent Movie. More recently, they made guest-appearances as themselves in the fourth season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm. On June 6, 2005, Anne Bancroft lost her life to uterine cancer at 73 years old.
In 2005, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Uma Thurman, and Will Ferrell starred in a remake of The Producers, which has become one of Mel’s biggest successes, winning a record-breaking 12 Tony awards. In April 2006, Mel began composing the score to a Broadway musical adaptation of Young Frankenstein. He is also reportedly working on a sequel to his 1987 Star Wars parody, Spaceballs.
Mel has the prestigious honor of having earned an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony, and a Grammy. He also has three films ranked amongst the American Film Institute's list of funniest American films: Blazing Saddles (#6), The Producers (#11), and Young Frankenstein (#13). |
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Mel Brooks - Appeared with Amanda Bynes in Robots |
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Mel Brooks - Appeared with Drew Carey in Robots |
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Mel Brooks - Appeared with Jennifer Coolidge in Robots |
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Mel Brooks - Appeared with Dylan Denton in Robots |
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Mel Brooks - Appeared with Will Denton in Robots |
Mel Brooks - Produced 'The Elephant Man' directed by David Lynch .
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Mel Brooks - Wrote sketch comedy show 'Your Show of your Shows' which starred Carl Reiner . |
Mel Brooks - Lent his voice to 'Robots' alongside Sofia Vergara .
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Yuddy top celebrities
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