Birthdate
June 28, 1926
Birthplace
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Nationality
United States
Professions
Director, Actor, Comedian, Producer, Screenwriter, Lyricist
Companions
Anne Bancroft, Florence Baum
A true legend in the entertainment industry, Mel Brooks was an Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony-winning creator and performer of some of the biggest comedy hits on television, in film, and on Broadway. He got his start penning gags for Sid Caesar on the legendary "Your Show of Shows" (NBC, 1950-54) before developing his own series, "Get Smart" (NBC/CBS, 1965-1970). He soon graduated to directing films and turned out a string of uproarious and bawdy parodies of Hollywood genres, including "Young Frankenstein" (1974), "Blazing Saddles" (1974), and "High Anxiety" (1977) - all considered classics by anyone's standards. His first theatrical feature, "The Producers" (1968), later served as the basis for a hit Broadway musical, which earned Brooks and his cast and crew a record 12 Tony Awards in 2001. With the success of the big screen adaptation of "Get Smart" (2008), more than 40 years after the premiere of the original series, it was clear that the mad mind of Mel Brooks still packed a timeless comedic punch.Born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn, New York on June 28, 1926, Brooks discovered his ability to make others laugh in the same manner as so many other comedians - by performing for his parents, Maximilian and Kate, and his brothers Leonard, Irving and Bernard. After serving as a combat engineer in Europe and North Africa with the Army during World War II, Brooks sharpened his chops as an emcee and musician at the Catskills resort Grossinger's, where he also changed his name to Brooks (a variant on his mother's maiden name, Brookman) to avoid confusion with trumpeter Max Kaminsky. The experience helped to solidify some of the recurring themes and elements in Brooks' comedy - broad humor with a distinctly Jewish flavor, driven by larger-than-life portrayals, absurd wordplay, parodies of well-known celebrities and popular culture; all of it shot through with a vein of burlesque-style shtick. In 1951, Brooks married Florence Baum, with whom he had three children. The couple split in 1961.Brooks' career as a writer began with "The Admiral Broadway Revue" (NBC/Dumont, 1949), a Broadway-style variety program that brought together the formidable comedy team of Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Brooks followed the duo to their next variety series, "Your Show of Shows" (NBC, 1950-54), where he joined such budding comic talents as Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, Mel Tolkin, and Carl Reiner, and its follow-up, "Caesar's Hour" (NBC, 1954-57), where he was joined by a young Woody Allen. Brooks also contributed sketch material to the revue "New Faces of 1952," which ran on Broadway in that year. He also displayed a talent for penning musical theater - Brooks co-wrote the book for "Shinbone Alley" (1957), based on the New York Tribune columns by Don Marquis about a lovelorn cat and a philosophical cockroach (an animated film based on the musical was released in 1971), and contributed most of the book for the 1962 musical "All American." During this period, Brooks also met and wooed actress Ann Bancroft, who was the toast of Broadway at the time for her performance in the Broadway play "The Miracle Worker." The couple married in 1964 and had one son, Max, who later achieved fame as a writer for "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975- ) and several horror-related fiction and non-fiction books.While exploring these venues, Brooks also developed a comic character called "The 2,000 Year Old Man," which grew out of a painful bout of gout that left Brooks feeling not unlike his ancient character. Brooks and Carl Reiner improvised and recorded an "interview" with the character at a party, which lead to several TV appearances and helped establish Brooks' reputation as one of the quickest wits in American comedy. Brooks' first foray into film won an Academy Award - "The Critic" (1963), an animated short written by Brooks and directed by Ernest Pintoff, spoofed the unfathomable nature of certain experimental films by showing a stream of abstract images, under which the
