Acting
Mel Brooks
EN, SV, IT, XX cinema · 122 credits
Born
28 June 1926 (age 100)
Birthplace
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Also known as Melvin James Kaminsky · Melvin James 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
Filmography
Untitled Lani Pixels Project
Untitled Lani Pixels Project
as Gatekeeper (voice)
Enormous
Enormous
as Bernie (voice)
Spaceballs: The New One
as President Skroob / Yogurt, Producer, Original Film Writer
The Land of Sometimes
as The Postman (voice)
Addicted to It
as Phoney Bunny
Flower of the Dawn
as Bürgermeister (voice)
From Darkness to Light
as Self (archive footage)
John Candy: I Like Me
as Self - Director, Spaceballs
Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love
as Self - Announcer (voice)
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
as Shogun (voice), Executive Producer, Original Film Writer
The Automat
as Self, Songs
Toy Story 4
as Melephant Brooks (voice)
Forky Asks a Question: What Is Love?
as Melephant Brooks (voice)
The Producers
Lyricist, Writer, Music
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
as Vlad (voice)
The Last Laugh
as Self
Ballerina
as Luteau (US version)
Hotel Transylvania 2
as Vlad (voice)
Mel Brooks: Live at the Geffen
as Self, Writer, Executive Producer
Sam
Executive Producer
Mr. Peabody & Sherman
as Albert Einstein (voice)
Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West
as Self (archive footage)
Ride
Thanks
The Great Dictator: The Clown Turns Prophet
as Self (archive footage)
Ruby's Studio: the Feelings Show
as Sally Simon Simmons Narrator
Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1980s, 1990s and 2000s
as Self (archive)
Spaceballs: The Totally Warped Animated Adventures
as President Skroob/Yogurt
Get Smart
Characters
Hitler: The Comedy Years
as Singer in 'Springtime for Hitler' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Cutting Edge Comedians of the '60s & '70s
2007
Cutting Edge Comedians of the '60s & '70s
as Self (archive footage)
Robots
as Bigweld (voice)
The Producers
as Hilda the Pigeon / Tom the Cat (voice), Screenplay, Producer, Songs
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
as Joe Snow (voice)
Sex, Lies and Video Violence
as Stressed old man
Screw Loose
as Jake Gordon
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
as Self (archive footage)
Caesar's Writers
as Self
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
as Prof. Abraham Van Helsing, Producer, Director, Screenplay
The Silence of the Hams
as Checkout Guest (uncredited)
The Little Rascals
as Mr. Welling
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
as Rabbi Tuckman, Screenplay, Director, Producer
Mickey's Audition
as Movie Director
The Vagrant
Executive Producer
Life Stinks
as Goddard Bolt, Director, Screenplay, Producer, Story
Look Who's Talking Too
as Mr. Toilet Man (voice)
The Fly II
Producer
Spaceballs
as President Skroob / Yogurt, Producer, Director, Screenplay
84 Charing Cross Road
Executive Producer
Solarbabies
Producer
The Doctor and the Devils
Executive Producer
Sunset People
as Self
An Audience with Mel Brooks
as Self, Writer
To Be or Not to Be
as Dr. Frederick Bronski, Producer
History of the World: Part I
as Moses / Comicus / Torquemada / Jacques / King Louis XVI, Director, Screenplay, Producer
Fatso
Producer
The Nude Bomb
Characters
The Muppet Movie
as Professor Max Krassman
The Muppets Go Hollywood
as Self (uncredited)
Peeping Times
as Adolf Hitler
Mickey's 50
as Self
Loose Shoes
Producer
High Anxiety
as Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke, Writer, Producer, Director, Songs
Silent Movie
as Mel Funn, Screenplay, Director
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
as Lion victim (voice)
The 2000 Year Old Man
as 2000 Year Old Man (voice), Writer
Blazing Saddles
as William Le Petomane / Indian Chief, Director, Screenplay, Lyricist, Songs
Free to Be… You and Me
as Baby Boy (voice)
Young Frankenstein
as Werewolf / Cat / Victor Frankenstein (voice) (uncredited), Screenplay, Director, Screenstory
The Twelve Chairs
as Tikon, Director, Screenplay
Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man
as Himself, Writer
Shinbone Alley
Author, Writer
The Producers
as Singer in "Springtime for Hitler" (voice) (uncredited), Director, Songs, Lyricist, Writer
The Critic
as Narrator (voice), Writer, Creator
New Faces
Writer