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.
98 movies · 49 shows
The Land of Sometimes
2026·6.2
The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld
2025·0.0
Flower of the Dawn
2025·0.0
John Candy: I Like Me
2025·7.9
Paddy Chayefsky: Collector of Words
2025·7.5
From Darkness to Light
2025·6.7
Mel Brooks: Seriously... Well, Almost
2024·4.0
Remembering Gene Wilder
2024·7.2
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
2023·7.0
Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love
2023·6.0
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
2022·6.6
The Automat
2021·6.7
David Lynch: The Idea Dictates Everything
2021·0.0
Forky Asks a Question: What Is Love?
2019·6.4
Toy Story 4
2019·7.5
The Great Buster: A Celebration
2018·7.2
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
2018·6.8
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
2018·6.9
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
2018·6.4
Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies
2017·5.4
Mel Brooks: The Genius Entertainer
2017·6.0
If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
2017·7.1
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
2017·6.8
Ballerina
2016·7.2
It's Always About the Story: Conversations with Alan Ladd, Jr.
2016·5.5
The Last Laugh
2016·7.0
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
2016·7.1
Hotel Transylvania 2
2015·6.8
Mel Brooks: Live at the Geffen
2015·6.8
Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks' Wild, Wild West
2014·1.0
Mr. Peabody & Sherman
2014·6.7
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
2013·8.2
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
2013·7.1
Mel Brooks Strikes Back!
2012·6.5
In the Beginning: The Caesar Years
2012·0.0
Excavating the 2000 Year Old Man
2012·0.0
Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again
2011·7.9
The Great Dictator: The Clown Turns Prophet
2011·6.0
Ruby's Studio: the Feelings Show
2010·0.0
Making History: Mel Brooks on Creating the World
2009·0.0
Musical Mel: Inventing The Inquisition
2009·0.0
Silent Laughter: The Reel Inspirations of 'Silent Movie'
2009·0.0
Hitchcock and Mel: Spoofing the Master of Suspense
2009·0.0
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
2009·6.7
Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1980s, 1990s and 2000s
2009·0.0
Spaceballs: The Totally Warped Animated Adventures
2008·0.0
Hitler: The Comedy Years
2007·5.0
Cutting Edge Comedians of the '60s & '70s
2007·0.0
The Dick Cavett Show with Mel Brooks
2006·0.0
The Producers
2005·6.2
Spaceballs: The Documentary
2005·0.0
Spaceballs: In Conversation - Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
2005·6.0
John Candy: Comic Spirit
2005·6.0
Robots
2005·6.5
Life Stinks: Does Life Really Stink?
2003·5.3
Sid Caesar Collection: Buried Treasures - The Legend of Sid Caesar
2003·7.0
The Making of 'The Producers'
2002·7.9
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
2002·6.0
The Terrible Elephant Man Revealed
2001·6.5
Recording the Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks
2001·9.2
Back in the Saddle
2001·6.5
The Sid Caesar Collection: Inside the Writer's Room
2000·8.0
The Sid Caesar Collection: Creating the Comedy
2000·7.0
Sex, Lies and Video Violence
2000·5.3
Screw Loose
1999·4.1
Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century
1998·7.7
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
1997·7.2
Caesar's Writers
1996·9.0
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
1995·6.1
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
1994·8.8
The Little Rascals
1994·6.8
The Silence of the Hams
1994·4.9
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
1993·6.6
'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' – The Legend Had It Coming
1993·6.4
Mickey's Audition
1992·4.0
Life Stinks
1991·5.7
Look Who's Talking Too
1990·5.5
Free to Be... a Family
1988·8.8
Spaceballs
1987·6.9
Sunset People
1984·8.0
An Audience with Mel Brooks
1984·7.0
To Be or Not to Be
1983·6.7
History of the World: Part I
1981·6.8
The Muppet Movie
1979·7.2
The Muppets Go Hollywood
1979·6.2
Mickey's 50
1978·9.0
Peeping Times
1978·3.0
High Anxiety
1977·6.4
Silent Movie
1976·6.5
The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother
1975·6.0
The 2000 Year Old Man
1975·6.5
Young Frankenstein
1974·7.9
Free to Be… You and Me
1974·6.8
Blazing Saddles
1974·7.2
The Twelve Chairs
1970·6.3
Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man
1970·0.0
The Producers
1968·7.1
The Critic
1963·6.6