Mel Brooks’ 100th birthday is June 28, so here’s a look back (and ahead) at the creative icon’s show business career.
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“Comedy is a very powerful component of life. It has the most to say about the human condition because if you laugh you can get by.” — Mel Brooks
Born Melvin James Kaminsky in New York City, June 28, 1926.
Brooks is one of 22 people who have received an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.
He has won three Grammys. His first Grammy was for Best Spoken Comedy Album in 1999 for his recording of “The 2,000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000” with Carl Reiner.
He won his first of four Emmy awards in 1967 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Variety for a Sid Caesar special.
He won his Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Original Screenplay in 1968 for “The Producers.”
He won his three Tony awards in 2001 for his work on the musical “The Producers”, for Best Musical, Best Original Musical Score and Best Book of a Musical.
Brooks also won a Hugo Award and Nebula Award for “Young Frankenstein.” The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year
In December 2009, Brooks was one of five recipients of the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.
He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April 2010, with a motion picture star located at 6712 Hollywood Blvd.
Here are some of his credits:
Two of Mel Brooks’ movies are still listed in the Top 125 Biggest Box Office Hits (Adjusted) of All-Time: “Blazing Saddles” is 51st and “Young Frankenstein” is 124th. Both films were released in 1974.
Some things you many not know: Brooks was a corporal in the U.S. Army’s 78th Infantry Division from 1944-46. He was in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. He had many jobs, one being land-mine location.
When the fighting ended he toured as a comic for the troops before being honorably discharged around age 20.
When he got out of the Army he went to the Catskills and worked as a drummer and pianist. He got an opportunity to do stand-up comedy as well. He was a huge fan of Sid Caesar, who eventually hired him as a full-time writer giving him his big shot at show business.
Brooks said Mel Tonlkin, the head-writer on “Your Show of Shows” gave him the book called “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol and he continues to read it yearly to remind him of what great comic writing can be.
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Hit record: What began as a joke between Carl Reiner and Brooks that was then shared at parties became a hit record called “The 2,000 Year Old Man” in 1960. Its success would lead to four more records (1961, 1962, 1973, 1997) and an animated TV special in 1975.
Top-voted Mel Brooks films on imdb.com
1. “The Producers” (PG)
A stage-play producer devises a plan to make money by producing a sure-fire flop.
2. “The Twelve Chairs” (G)
In 1920s Soviet Russia, a fallen aristocrat, a priest and a con artist search for a treasure of jewels hidden inside one of twelve dining chairs, lost during the revolution.
3. “Blazing Saddles” (R)
In order to ruin a western town and steal their land, a corrupt politician appoints a Black sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.
4. “Young Frankenstein” (PG)
An American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.
5. “Silent Movie” (PG)
A film director and his strange friends struggle to produce the first major silent feature film in forty years.
6. “High Anxiety” (PG)
A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their patients, and have secrets that they are willing to commit murder to keep.
7. “History of the World: Part I” (R)
Mel Brooks brings his one-of-a-kind comic touch to the history of mankind covering events from the Old Testament to the French Revolution in a series of episodic comedy vignettes.
8. “Spaceballs” (PG)
A star-pilot for hire and his trusty half-dog sidekick must come to the rescue of a spoiled princess and save Planet Druidia from the clutches of the evil Spaceballs.
9. “Life Stinks” (PG-13)
A filthy-rich businessman bets a corporate rival that he can live on the streets of L.A. without the comforts of home or money, but it proves to be tougher than he thought.
10. “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (PG-13)
A spoof of Robin Hood in general, and “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (1991) in particular.
In a 2017 interview with the BBC, Brooks said “Blazing Saddles” could never be made today.
“It’s OK not to hurt the feelings of various tribes and groups,” he said. “However, it’s not good for comedy.
“Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks. It’s the lecherous little elf whispering in the king’s ear, telling the truth about human behavior.”
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