Mel Brooks Turns 99: A Celebration Of An Extraordinary Career

Forbes

12 hours ago

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 21: Mel Brooks speaks onstage at the "Spaceballs" screening during the ... More 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 21, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo byfor TCM)
Mark your calendars - one year from today, Mel Brooks will turn 100! And today we wish the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award (EGOT) winner a Happy 99th Birthday!
The irony of Brooks reaching age 99 is the classic sitcom Get Smart, which he created with Buck Henry in 1965 and featured Barbara Feldon as Agent 99. Get Smart, which aired through 1971 and won seven Emmys and two Golden Globe Awards, is just one of the endless accomplishments of Mr. Brooks, who is still actively working. Fun factoid: Don Adams as Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) talking on the shoe phone has been parodied by many comedians over the years.
Don Adams (1923 - 2005) as Maxwell Smart/Agent 86 and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 in the television ... More series 'Get Smart', circa 1965. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/)
Another fun factoid: Mel Brooks is one of only 21 entertainers to win the EGOT.
Born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926, Mel Brooks began his lengthy career as a comic and a writer for the groundbreaking Sid Caeser variety show Your Show of Shows, which ran from 1950 to 1954. There he worked with eventual legends Neil Simon and Carl Reiner, whom he remained best friends with until Reiner's death in 2020 at age 98.
Did you know?: Mel's last name, Brooks, is an adaptation of his mother's maiden name, Brookman.
Promotional portrait of American comedians Sid Caesar (left) and Mel Brooks in 'The Sid Caesar, ... More Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris Special,' which was originally broadcast on April 5, 1967. The special was a reunion of cast members from 'Your Show Of Shows.' (Photo by CBS)
NEW YORK, NY - [August 18, 2016: The Writer's Room located at City Center 130 West 56th street, ... More where YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS came to life each week from February 25, 1950 until June 5, 1954. The writing staff included Sid Caeser, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Howard Morris, Mel Tolkin, Lucille Kallen, Tony Webster, Joe Stein, Danny Simon, Max Liebman and Woody Allen. It waslocated on the 6th floor. Photographed on August 18, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by)
Sid Caesar then created sketch-comedy Caesar's Hour, which ran from 1954 to 1957 and included most of the same cast and writers, including Brooks and the arrivals of Woody Allen and Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H).
Then, after creating live act the '2000 Year Old Man' with Carl Reiner and appearing on The Steve Allen Show with it, the pair segued to three comedy albums, a 1975 animated TV special, and a reunion album in 1998.
Trivia note: Brooks adapted the '2000 Year Old Man' character to create the '2500-Year-Old Brewmaster" for Ballantine Beer in the 1960s.
1974: Actors Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner pose for a publicity portrait for their program "2000 And ... More Thirteen Year Old Man" in 1974. (Photo by Michael)
Brooks headed to Broadway with the creation of the musical All American in 1962. Then came Get Smart. And, for several years, Brooks explored the ideas of a musical comedy of the notorious Adolph Hitler, which turned into his first feature comedic film, The Producers, in 1968. Brooks won The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and his film career skyrocketed.
1968: Actors Gene Wilder, Zero Mostel and Lee Meredith perform scene in Mel Brooks classic movie ... More "The Producers". Winner of two Academy Awards. (Photo by Michael)
Next was The Twelve Chairs in 1970, and two more collaborations with Gene Wilder: Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, both in 1974. Fun factoid: the legendary actress Heddy Lamarr sued Brooks over the use of the name Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles and settled out of court.
Actors Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman and Teri Garr in a scene from the movie 'Young ... More Frankenstein', 1974. (Photo by Stanley Bielecki)
Actor Mel Brooks (left) sits on the floor beside Harvey Korman as Cleavon Little kneels atop a desk, ... More in a still from the film, 'Blazing Saddles,' directed by Mel Brooks, 1974. (Photo by Warner Bros./Courtesy of Getty Images)
Brooks undeniably struck a comedic chord with audiences. Young Frankenstein was the third-highest-grossing film domestically of 1974, just behind Blazing Saddles with a gross of $86 million.
Heading back to television, Brooks created the 1975 sitcom When Things Were Rotten, a parody of Robin Hood. Despite only airing for 13 episodes, he resurrected dialogue from the comedy, and other Brooks films, for Robin Hood: Men in Tights on the big screen in 1993.
Cary Elwes and Amy Yasbeck celebrate in a scene from the film 'Robin Hood: Men In Tights', 1993. ... More (Photo by 20th Century-Fox/Getty Images)
Later Mel Brooks features include Silent Movie (1976), High Anxiety (1977) and, through his company Brooksfilms, Frances (1982), The Fly (1986), My Favorite Year (1982), History of the World Part I (1981), Spaceballs (1987), Life Stinks (1991), and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995). There was also the one season TV sitcom The Nutt House with Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman in 1989. And, in 2001, came the blockbuster Broadway musical The Producers, based on the earlier film.
388331 01: People stand in line outside the St. James Theatre in New York April 25, 2001 to purchase ... More tickets for the Broadway production of "The Producers". "The Producers," a $10 million stage version of Mel Brooks'' classic film comedy is Broadway's biggest hit since "The Lion King" with $100 ticket prices which are the highest on Broadway. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Newsmakers)
Fun factoid: Brooks guest starred as Uncle Phil in four episodes of the Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt sitcom Mad About You from 1996 to 1999 and won the Emmy Award three times for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Not a bad gig!
MAD ABOUT YOU — "The Penis" Episode 14 — Pictured: (l-r) Paul Reiser as Paul Buchman, Helen Hunt as ... More Jamie Stemple Buchman, Mel Brooks as Uncle Phil, Lawrence Mandley as Leon, unknown, Eric Allan Kramer as Skippy — Photo by: Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES: Comedian Mel Brooks points to his Emmy awardat the 50th Annual ... More Primetime Emmy Awards 13 Sept at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Brooks won his Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Uncle Phil in "Mad About You". . AFP PHOTO Kim KULISH/mn (Photo credit should read KIM KULISH/AFP via Getty Images)
In recent years, Brooks published his memoir All About Me in 2021. He wrote and produced History of the World Part II, a follow-up series on Hulu, also in 2021. And just this month he announced Spaceballs 2 is bring produced with a release date targeted for 2027. Oh, and now there is also Very Young Frankenstein, a television project, for FX, that Brooks is producing.
The moral of this story: Staying active is the 'secret sauce' for longevity. And today we wish Mel Brooks a Happy 99th Birthday!
American film director Mel Brooks, New York, New York, July 1976. (Photo by Jack Mitchell/Getty ... More Images)