99 Surprising Facts About Mel Brooks For His 99th Birthday

Mel Brooks once said that comedy is just tragedy plus time. Well, 99 years later, the world is still laughing. From the Borscht Belt to Broadway, Hollywood to Hulu, Mel Brooks has shaped the way we laugh, spoof, and sing about it all. In honor of the legend turning 99 today, here are 99 true and delightful facts about the one and only Melvin James Kaminsky—better known to the world as Mel Brooks.

  1. Mel Brooks was born Melvin James Kaminsky on June 28, 1926, in Brooklyn.
  2. His father died when Mel was just two years old.
  3. He grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in a tenement.
  4. His mother’s family was from Kyiv; his father’s side hailed from Danzig.
  5. He had three older brothers: Irving, Lenny, and Bernie.
  6. He once said much of his comedy came from anger, wrapped in humor.
  7. He saw Anything Goes at age nine and decided to pursue showbiz.
  8. He got his first job in entertainment at age 14 at a Borscht Belt hotel.
  9. At that job, he met an 18-year-old Sid Caesar.
  10. He once jumped into a pool wearing a derby and rocks in his suitcases as part of a comedy act.
  11. He learned to play drums from the great Buddy Rich.
  12. He earned money as a drummer in his teens.
  13. His first time doing stand-up was at age 16, filling in for a sick MC.
  14. He changed his last name from Kaminsky to Brooks, inspired by his mother’s maiden name.
  15. He graduated from Eastern District High School in January 1944.
  16. He intended to study psychology at Brooklyn College.
  17. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944 at age 18.
  18. He trained at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as a radio operator.
  19. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge as a combat engineer.
  20. His job included clearing land mines in Nazi Germany.
  21. He countered German propaganda by singing Al Jolson songs into a bullhorn.
  22. He spent time in the stockade after hitting a heckler with his mess kit.
  23. He built bridges over the Roer and Rhine rivers during the war.
  24. He ended the war entertaining troops in the Special Services.
  25. He was discharged in June 1946 as a corporal.
  26. After the war, he worked in Catskill resorts as a musician and comic.
  27. Sid Caesar hired him to write for The Admiral Broadway Revue in 1949.
  28. He earned $50 a week writing off-the-books gags.
  29. In 1950, he joined Your Show of Shows as a writer.
  30. His colleagues on the show included Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, and Mel Tolkin.
  31. Carl Reiner later based Buddy Sorell on Brooks for The Dick Van Dyke Show.
  32. Neil Simon’s play Laughter on the 23rd Floor was also inspired by Brooks.
  33. Mel Brooks inspired the character Ira Stone in Simon’s play.
  34. He continued writing for Caesar’s Hour from 1954 to 1957.
  35. He cited Dead Souls by Gogol as a life-changing gift.
  36. He performed the “2000 Year Old Man” act with Carl Reiner.
  37. Their first comedy album sold over a million copies in 1961.
  38. The duo revived the act multiple times through the 1990s.
  39. Brooks created the 2500-Year-Old Brewmaster for Ballantine Beer.
  40. He co-wrote the Broadway musical All American in 1962.
  41. He conceived and voiced The Critic, which won an Oscar in 1963.
  42. He co-created Get Smart with Buck Henry in 1965.
  43. The show won seven Emmys and ran until 1970.
  44. He won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for The Producers (1968).
  45. Peter Sellers personally promoted The Producers in full-page ads.
  46. He later turned The Producers into a Tony-winning Broadway musical.
  47. He directed The Twelve Chairs in 1970.
  48. He co-wrote Blazing Saddles, released in 1974.
  49. The film became the second-highest-grossing movie of 1974.
  50. Brooks described Blazing Saddles as “a Jewish western with a Black hero.”
  51. He co-wrote Young Frankenstein with Gene Wilder.
  52. He provided three voice cameos in Young Frankenstein.
  53. Young Frankenstein was the third-highest-grossing U.S. film of 1974.
  54. Pauline Kael praised Brooks’s direction in Young Frankenstein.
  55. He directed Silent Movie in 1976—the first feature-length silent film in decades.
  56. Marcel Marceau says the film’s only spoken word: “Non!”
  57. He made High Anxiety in 1977, parodying Hitchcock films.
  58. Brooks produced The Elephant Man in 1980 under Brooksfilms.
  59. He used the Brooksfilms name so audiences wouldn’t expect a comedy.
  60. Brooksfilms also produced The Fly and 84 Charing Cross Road.
  61. He starred in and produced To Be or Not To Be in 1983.
  62. He spoofed sci-fi with Spaceballs in 1987.
  63. He directed Life Stinks in 1991, his only non-parody.
  64. He returned to Robin Hood parody with Men in Tights in 1993.
  65. He spoofed vampire films with Dracula: Dead and Loving It in 1995.
  66. He created the Broadway version of The Producers in 2001.
  67. The musical won a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards.
  68. He wrote a musical version of Young Frankenstein in 2007.
  69. He voiced Bigweld in the animated film Robots (2005).
  70. He voiced Vlad in Hotel Transylvania 2 and 3.
  71. He created Spaceballs: The Animated Series in 2008.
  72. In 2021, he released his memoir All About Me!
  73. He produced History of the World, Part II for Hulu in 2023.
  74. He received a 2023 Emmy nomination for voiceover work.
  75. In June 2025, he announced Spaceballs 2 is on the way.
  76. He is executive producing Very Young Frankenstein for FX.
  77. He is one of 21 entertainers to achieve EGOT status.
  78. He won his Oscar in 1968.
  79. He won his first Emmy in 1967.
  80. He won three Emmys for Mad About You in the late 1990s.
  81. He won a Grammy in 1999 for The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000.
  82. He won three Tonys for The Producers in 2001.
  83. He won Hugo and Nebula Awards for Young Frankenstein.
  84. He was voted #50 on Channel 4’s Comedian’s Comedian list.
  85. AFI ranked Blazing Saddles #6 on their comedy list.
  86. The Producers ranks #11, and Young Frankenstein #13.
  87. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009.
  88. He got a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010.
  89. PBS aired a American Masters biography about him in 2013.
  90. He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013.
  91. He left a six-fingered handprint at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
  92. He received a British Film Institute Fellowship in 2015.
  93. He received the National Medal of Arts in 2016.
  94. He was married to Anne Bancroft for 41 years.
  95. They met during a rehearsal for The Perry Como Variety Show.
  96. Their son, Max Brooks, wrote World War Z.
  97. Brooks credits Bancroft for encouraging him to do Broadway.
  98. He reads Russian literature every year, especially Gogol’s Dead Souls.
  99. In 2024, Mel Brooks received an Honorary Academy Award, celebrating his lifetime of achievements in comedy and film.