Mel Brooks. United States film director, was born Melvin Kaminsky on
June 28,
1926, in Brooklyn, New York.
He started out in showbusiness as a stand-up comic, before becoming a comedy writer for television. With Buck Henry, he created the successful TV series Get Smart. He later moved into film, working as an actor, director, writer and producer. His most recent success has been a transfer of his film, The Producers, to the Broadway stage.
Brooks is one of a select group who have received an Oscar, Emmy? (as both an actor and writer), Tony? and Grammy?.
Films
- The Producers (writer, director; Academy Award, best original screenplay)
- Young Frankenstein (writer, director)
- Blazing Saddles (writer, director)
- High Anxiety (writer, director, actor)
- History of the World, Part I (writer, director, actor)
- Life Stinks (writer, director, actor)
- Spaceballs (writer, director, actor)
- Robin Hood: Men in Tights (writer, director, actor)