Mel Brooks

In 1951, brooks got married to Florence Baum and the couple had three children together, Stephaine, Nicky and Eddie. Their marriage ended within 10 years.

He married actress Anne Bancroft in 1964 and remained married to her until her death in 2005. They had a son together, Max Brooks. Bancroft had been Brooks’ inspiration behind ‘The Producers’ and ‘Young Frankenstein’.

Mel Brooks was born in Brooklyn, New York, to James and Kate Kaminsky. He belonged to a Jewish household and had three older brothers Irving, Lenny and Bernie. His father died of a Kidney disease when Brooks was only 2.

Brooks used to get bullied by other boys when he was young as he was of a small built. He went to Abraham Lincoln High School and attended Eastern District High School and Brooklyn College. He learnt drums from Buddy Rich at school.

He went to the Army Specialized Training Program at the Virginia Military Institute and served in the US Army as a corporal at the time of World War II. He later returned to work at resorts in the Catskill Mountains for some time.

After his stint in the World War II, Brooks played piano at the Borscht Belt resorts and started working as a stand-up comedian and did some comic radio work as well. He eventually became the master entertainer at the Grossinger’s.

In 1949, Brooks was hired by his friend Sid Caesar to write comic one-liners for the NBC series ‘The Admiral Broadway Revue’. The job paid him a sum of 50 US dollars per week. He was happy to be a comedy writer.

In 1950, Sid Caesar came up with his own variety comedy series called ‘Your Show of Shows’, which had Brooks as a writer along with Carl Reiner, Mel Tolkin, Neil Simon, etc. It was an instant hit and it ran for 4 years.

In 1954, Brooks wrote for another of Caesar’s shows called ‘Caesar’s Hour’ along with the same writing cast from ‘You Show of Shows’. It ran for 3 years and by the end of it Brooks wrote ‘Shinbone Alley’, his first Broadway musical.

In the late 1950s, Brook became good friends with his co-writer Carl Reiner and they both started working on various comedy routines. They created the ‘2000 Year Old Man’ and performed the routine in New York, where it became a cult success.

Brooks received 3 Grammys for ‘The 2000 Year Old Man’, ‘The Producers’ and ‘Recording the Producers’. He received his first 4 Emmys for ‘Your Show of Shows’ and received 3 Emmy for the sitcom ‘Mad About You’.

He is the winner of 3 Tony Awards for ‘The Producers’ and a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award for ‘Young Frankenstein’. He received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 and after a few years received the AFI Life Achievement Award.