Mel Brooks, the comedic genius who brought us Spaceballs, Blazing Saddles (1974), Get Smart, and so much more, is celebrating his 99th birthday. Born Melvin James Kaminsky June 28, 1926, in New York City, the EGOT laureate has been making us laugh for three-quarters of a century. His zany and twisted brain has given us The Producers 91967), Dracula, Dead and Loving It (1995), His stage name Brooks, is an abbreviation of his mother’s maiden name, Brookman.

Brooks began his career as an entertainer as a comedy writer for Cid Caesar’s variety show, Your Show of Shows in 1950. Since then, he has been a scripteriter, a playwright, a director, a songwriter, an actor, and a producer. Brooks has amused and inspired millions of people all over the world. He is best known for his satires and his parodies. Nor is he ready to retire. He is returning to the silver screen as Yogurt in Spaceballs 2.

EGOT and Other Honors

Three Emmy Awards: five primetime Emmy nominations between 2013 and 2023., Won the Emmy in 1967 for Outstanding Writing in Variety. In 1997, Brooks won Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Mad About You

Grammy, won in 1998 for Best Spoken Comedy Album for The 2,000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000….Brooks received ten nominations for the Grammy Award R 1967 and 2023. He won three times, most recently in 2002.

Oscar, 1969 for Best Story and Screenplay for The Producers

Tony, 2001 for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Musical Score, The Producers

Saturn Award Brooks won the Saturn Award for Best Director in 1976 for Young Frankenstein.

Hugo Award, 1975, for Best Dramatic Presentation for Young Frankenstein.

Nebula Award, in 1976 Brooks won the N?ebula Award from SFWA for Best Dramatic Writing for Young Frankenstein.

 Mel Brooks “has appeared in five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant: The Producers (1967), Putney Swope (1969), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974) and The Muppet Movie (1979). He has also directed three films that are in the registry: The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.”

Between 1960 and 1998, Brooks released seven comedy albums. He was nominated for ten Grammy Awards and won three.

In 2009 Mel Brooks received a Kennedy Center Honor. He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010.

Brooks is respected worldwide. He received a British Film Institute Fellowship in 2016 and a BAFTA Fellowship in 2017.

Mel Brooks’ Books

• History of the world, Part I (Mel Brooks)
• The 2000 Year Old Man: The Collected Recorded Wisdom of the Venerable Sage in One Fully Illustrated Volume (Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, illustrations by Leo Salkin)
• The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000: The Book (Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner)
• High Anxiety (Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, Rudy DeLuca, Barry Levinson, novelization by Robert H. Pilpel)
• The Producers: The Book, Lyrics, and Story Behind the Biggest Hit in Broadway History! (Mel Brooks and Tom Meehan)
• The Producers: Voice Line with Piano Accompaniment Format Piano, Vocal and Guitar Chords (Mel Brooks)
• The Producers Songbook: Piano/Vocal Highlights (Mel Brooks)
• Paul on Mazursky (Sam Wasson, with foreword by Mel Brooks)
• Young Frankenstein: The Story of the Making of the Film (Mel Brooks, Rebecca Keegan)
• All About Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business (Mel Brooks)
• Robin Hood
  • Twice Mel Brooks used the Robin Hood legend as a background for his talents at parody, first with the delightfully anachronistic TV show When Things Were Rotten in 1975 and again with the movie Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).
• Why does a Jewish Comedian Make So Many Jokes About Hitler and Nazis?
  • “Brooks has stated that he includes so many jokes about Hitler and the Nazis in his movies because he wants to make them both seem so ridiculous that their beliefs never became popular again.”
• The Producers (1968) – Springtime for Hitler
• In addition to writing and directing The Producers, Brooks produceded the remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983), playing the role played by Jack Benny in the 1942 original, with his real-life wife, Anne Bancroft, playing the role originally created by Carole Lombard.
• In real life, Mel Brooks fought against Hitler and fascism. Corporal Kaminsky served in the U.S. Army from 1944-1946. He was in the famous Battle of the Bulge. After the war ended, Brooks transferred to Special Services, and provided entertainment to the troops. We salute him for doing his patriotic duty in WWII.

A very happy birthday to Mel Brooks!! And many more.