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.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0000316
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q104266
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Filmography (Movies)
The Land of Sometimes
Character:The Postman (voice)
Release Date:07/05/2026
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
Character:
Release Date:23/10/2025
Flower of the Dawn
Character:Bürgermeister (voice)
Release Date:11/10/2025
John Candy: I Like Me
Character:Self - Director, Spaceballs
Release Date:04/09/2025
Paddy Chayefsky: Collector of Words
Character:Self
Release Date:27/07/2025
From Darkness to Light
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:20/04/2025
Mel Brooks: Seriously... Well, Almost
Character:Self
Release Date:27/12/2024
Remembering Gene Wilder
Character:Self
Release Date:15/03/2024
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
Character:Self
Release Date:21/12/2023
Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love
Character:Announcer (voice)
Release Date:27/05/2023
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
Character:Shogun (voice)
Release Date:14/07/2022
The Automat
Character:Self
Release Date:02/09/2021
Forky Asks a Question: What Is Love?
Character:Melephant Brooks (voice)
Release Date:06/12/2019
Toy Story 4
Character:Melephant Brooks (voice)
Release Date:19/06/2019
The Great Buster: A Celebration
Character:Self
Release Date:05/10/2018
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
Character:Vlad (voice)
Release Date:28/06/2018
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Character:Self
Release Date:06/06/2018
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
Character:Self
Release Date:17/02/2018
Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies
Character:Self
Release Date:12/11/2017
If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
Character:Self
Release Date:19/05/2017
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
Character:Self
Release Date:01/02/2017
Ballerina
Character:Mustachioed Creep (voice)
Release Date:14/12/2016
Ballerina
Character:Luteau (voice)
Release Date:14/12/2016
It's Always About the Story: Conversations with Alan Ladd, Jr.
Character:Himself
Release Date:22/04/2016
The Last Laugh
Character:Self
Release Date:18/04/2016
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
Character:Self
Release Date:21/01/2016
Hotel Transylvania 2
Character:Vlad (voice)
Release Date:21/09/2015
Mel Brooks: Live at the Geffen
Character:Self
Release Date:31/01/2015
Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:06/05/2014
Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Character:Albert Einstein (voice)
Release Date:07/02/2014
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
Character:Self
Release Date:20/05/2013
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
Character:Self
Release Date:23/04/2013
Mel Brooks Strikes Back!
Character:Self
Release Date:10/12/2012
In the Beginning: The Caesar Years
Character:Self
Release Date:13/11/2012
Excavating the 2000 Year Old Man
Character:Self
Release Date:01/03/2012
Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again
Character:Self
Release Date:09/09/2011
The Great Dictator: The Clown Turns Prophet
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:24/05/2011
Ruby's Studio: the Feelings Show
Character:Sally Simon Simmons Narrator
Release Date:15/08/2010
Making History: Mel Brooks on Creating the World
Character:Self
Release Date:15/12/2009
Musical Mel: Inventing The Inquisition
Character:Self
Release Date:15/12/2009
Silent Laughter: The Reel Inspirations of 'Silent Movie'
Character:Self
Release Date:15/12/2009
Hitchcock and Mel: Spoofing the Master of Suspense
Character:Self
Release Date:15/12/2009
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
Character:Self
Release Date:02/10/2009
Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1980s, 1990s and 2000s
Character:Self (archive)
Release Date:11/08/2009
Spaceballs: The Totally Warped Animated Adventures
Character:President Skroob/Yogurt
Release Date:21/09/2008
Hitler: The Comedy Years
Character:Singer in 'Springtime for Hitler' (archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:10/05/2007
Cutting Edge Comedians of the '60s & '70s
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:10/04/2007
The Dick Cavett Show with Mel Brooks
Character:Self
Release Date:07/09/2006
The Producers
Character:Hilda the Pigeon / Tom the Cat (voice)
Release Date:25/12/2005
Spaceballs: The Documentary
Character:Self
Release Date:05/05/2005
Spaceballs: In Conversation - Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
Character:Self
Release Date:03/05/2005
John Candy: Comic Spirit
Character:Self
Release Date:03/05/2005
Robots
Character:Bigweld (voice)
Release Date:10/03/2005
Life Stinks: Does Life Really Stink?
Character:Self
Release Date:18/02/2003
Sid Caesar Collection: Buried Treasures - The Legend of Sid Caesar
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/2003
The Making of 'The Producers'
Character:Self
Release Date:03/12/2002
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
Character:Joe Snow (voice)
Release Date:29/11/2002
The Terrible Elephant Man Revealed
Character:Self
Release Date:11/12/2001
Recording the Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks
Character:Self / Host
Release Date:01/10/2001
Back in the Saddle
Character:Self
Release Date:19/06/2001
The Sid Caesar Collection: Inside the Writer's Room
Character:Himself
Release Date:20/06/2000
The Sid Caesar Collection: Creating the Comedy
Character:Himself
Release Date:20/06/2000
Sex, Lies and Video Violence
Character:Stressed old man
Release Date:05/05/2000
Screw Loose
Character:Jake Gordon
Release Date:19/02/1999
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:15/05/1998
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
Character:Self
Release Date:14/10/1997
Caesar's Writers
Character:Self
Release Date:19/08/1996
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Character:Prof. Abraham Van Helsing
Release Date:22/12/1995
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
Character:Self
Release Date:25/10/1994
The Little Rascals
Character:Mr. Welling
Release Date:05/08/1994
The Silence of the Hams
Character:Checkout Guest (uncredited)
Release Date:11/03/1994
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Character:Rabbi Tuckman
Release Date:28/07/1993
'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' – The Legend Had It Coming
Character:Self
Release Date:27/07/1993
Mickey's Audition
Character:Movie Director
Release Date:01/10/1992
Life Stinks
Character:Goddard Bolt
Release Date:05/06/1991
Look Who's Talking Too
Character:Mr. Toilet Man (voice)
Release Date:14/12/1990
Free to Be... a Family
Character:Self
Release Date:14/12/1988
Spaceballs
Character:President Skroob / Yogurt
Release Date:24/06/1987
Sunset People
Character:Self
Release Date:03/03/1984
An Audience with Mel Brooks
Character:Self
Release Date:04/02/1984
To Be or Not to Be
Character:Dr. Frederick Bronski
Release Date:16/12/1983
History of the World: Part I
Character:Moses / Comicus / Torquemada / Jacques / King Louis XVI
Release Date:12/06/1981
The Muppet Movie
Character:Professor Max Krassman
Release Date:22/06/1979
The Muppets Go Hollywood
Character:Self
Release Date:16/05/1979
Mickey's 50
Character:Self
Release Date:19/11/1978
Peeping Times
Character:Adolf Hitler
Release Date:25/01/1978
High Anxiety
Character:Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke
Release Date:25/12/1977
Silent Movie
Character:Mel Funn
Release Date:17/06/1976
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
Character:Lion victim (voice)
Release Date:14/12/1975
The 2000 Year Old Man
Character:2000 Year Old Man (voice)
Release Date:11/01/1975
Young Frankenstein
Character:Werewolf / Cat / Victor Frankenstein (voice) (uncredited)
Release Date:15/12/1974
Free to Be… You and Me
Character:Baby Boy (voice)
Release Date:11/03/1974
Blazing Saddles
Character:Governor William J. Le Petomane / Indian Chief
Release Date:07/02/1974
The Twelve Chairs
Character:Tikon
Release Date:28/10/1970
Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man
Character:Himself
Release Date:18/02/1970
The Producers
Character:Singer in "Springtime for Hitler" (voice) (uncredited)
Release Date:18/03/1968
The Critic
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:20/05/1963
Television Appearances
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
Character:Self
History of the World: Part II
Character:Narrator
Only Murders in the Building
Character:Mel Brooks
Somebody Feed Phil
Character:Self
To Tell the Truth
Character:Self - Panelist
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
Character:Self
Inside Comedy
Character:Self
The Paul Reiser Show
Character:The Angry Cat (voice)
Glenn Martin, DDS
Character:
Spaceballs: The Animated Series
Character:President Skroob / Yogurt (voice)
Legends
Character:Mel Funn (archive footage) (uncredited)
Broadway: The American Musical
Character:Self
Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks
Character:Wiley (voice)
Real Time with Bill Maher
Character:Self
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Character:Santa Claus (voice)
Primetime Glick
Character:
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Character:Mel Brooks
The Frank Skinner Show
Character:Self
RTL Samstag Nacht
Character:
Frasier
Character:Tom (voice)
Mad About You
Character:Uncle Phil
Noel's House Party
Character:
The Simpsons
Character:Mel Brooks (voice)
Saturday Night Clive
Character:
Wogan
Character:Self
Champs-Elysées
Character:Self
An Audience with...
Character:Self
Please Turn the Page
Character:Self
When Things Were Rotten
Character:Guard (uncredited)
Flick Flack
Character:
The Electric Company
Character:
Great Performances
Character:Self
The Dick Cavett Show
Character:Self - Guest
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Character:Self (uncredited)
The Hollywood Palace
Character:Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character:Self
The Mike Douglas Show
Character:Self
The Grammys
Character:Self
The David Susskind Show
Character:Self
Tony Awards
Character:Self - Winner
The Wonderful World of Disney
Character:Self
The Oscars
Character:Self
Golden Globe Awards
Character:Self - Nominee
Images
