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Mel Brooks

Biography

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks, director, producer, writer and actor, is an EGOT --- one of the few entertainers in an elite group to earn all four major entertainment prizes: the Emmy, the Grammy, the Oscar and the Tony. 

His career began in television writing for "Your Show of Shows," after which he helped create the TV series "Get Smart." He and Carl Reiner wrote and performed the 2000 Year Old Man Grammy-winning comedy albums. Brooks won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for his first feature film, The Producers. Many hit comedy films followed, including The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, To Be or Not to Be, Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. His film company, Brooksfilms Limited, produced critically acclaimed films such as The Elephant Man, Frances, My Favorite Year and 84 Charing Cross Road.

In 2009, Mel Brooks was a Kennedy Center Honoree, recognized for a lifetime of extraordinary contributions to American culture. In 2013, he was the 41st recipient of the AFI’s Life Achievement Award. In 2016, Mr. Brooks was presented with the National Medal of Arts by President Obama.

Mel Brooks

Books by Mel Brooks

by Mel Brooks - Autobiography, Entertainment, Nonfiction

ALL ABOUT ME! charts Mel Brooks’ meteoric rise from a Depression-era kid in Brooklyn to the recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Whether serving in the United States Army in World War II, or during his burgeoning career as a teenage comedian in the Catskills, Mel was always mining his experiences for material and looking for the perfect joke. His book offers fans insight into the inspiration behind the ideas for his outstanding collection of boundary-breaking work, and includes details about the many close friendships and collaborations Brooks had, including those with Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Alfred Hitchcock and the great love of his life, Anne Bancroft.