Trivia

Best friends with Carl Reiner. Both of them widowers, they hang out and watch movies together every night.

Called his late wife, Anne Bancroft, his Obi-Wan Kenobi as she had encouraged him to turn his movie The Producers (1967) into a Broadway musical.

Brooks introduced himself to Anne Bancroft in 1961 while she was making her first appearance on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948) (she would later return to appear on that show on various occasions over several years). Brooks bribed a woman who worked on the show to tell him at which restaurant Bancroft was going to dine so he could "accidentally" bump into her again and strike up a conversation. It worked. The two fell in love and eventually married at New York City's municipal Marriage Bureau in Lower Manhattan, where a passerby served as witness.

Brooks has stated that he includes so many jokes about Hitler and the Nazis in his movies because he wants to make them both seem so ridiculous that their beliefs never became popular again. However, he added that he absolutely refuses to include any jokes about the Holocaust or other atrocities.

His parents, Kate (nee Brookman) and Aharon Mordechai "Max" Kaminsky, were Jewish emigrants. His father was born in Tilsit, then in Prussia (now Russia), with ancestors from the area which is present-day Belarus. His mother was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). Brooks is an avid fan of Russian literature, occasionally making references to works and writers in his films.

Brooks won an Oscar for the screenplay of The Producers (1967); three Emmys in a row (1997-1999) for his guest appearance as Uncle Phil in Mad About You (1992); three Tonys for "The Producers" - Best Musical, Original Music Score and Book (musical); and three Grammys - Best Spoken Comedy Album for "The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000" (1998, with Carl Reiner) and two for "The Producers" (2001): Best Musical Show Album (as composer/lyricist) and Best Long Form Music Video (as artist). Thus he is one of only 18 "EGOT"s, meaning those who have received at least one of all of the four major entertainment awards: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony, competitively. The other recipients are Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Mike Nichols, Whoopi Goldberg, Scott Rudin, Robert Lopez, John Legend, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, Alan Menken, Jennifer Hudson and [Viola Davis].

Served as a corporal with the United States Army 1104th Engineer Combat Group in Europe as a Combat Engineer during World War II, where one of his duties was defusing land mines before the infantry moved in. He served in the Battle of the Bulge.

Though Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974) are often cited as his best and most popular films as a director, his biggest video sales are Spaceballs (1987) and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).

When separated from his first wife Florence he roomed with his friend Irving "Speed" Vogel. Their time together was the inspiration for Neil Simon's The Odd Couple.

Brooks' wife, actress Anne Bancroft, was responsible for helping to name his parody Western film Blazing Saddles (1974). According to Brooks, for much of the production, the film was entitled "Tex X", a reference to the fact that Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little)'s character was purportedly partly inspired by Malcolm X. One morning, while taking a shower, the words "Blazing Saddles" came into Mel's mind. He was so excited that he jumped out of the shower and tried the title out on Bancroft, who loved it. So Brooks officially renamed the film.

Has directed two performers to Oscar nominations: Gene Wilder (for The Producers (1967)) and Madeline Kahn (for Blazing Saddles (1974)).

Has directed three of the American Film Institute's 100 Funniest Movies: Blazing Saddles (1974) at #6, The Producers (1967) at #11 and Young Frankenstein (1974) at #13.

He, Anne Bancroft and their son Max Brooks have all won Emmy Awards.

At the opening of the Broadway version of "The Producers", he was asked by a reporter if he was nervous about the play's reception, since it cost $40 million to produce. Brooks joked, "If it flops, I'll take the other sixty million and fly to Rio." He did not have to worry, since the play was both a critical and financial success.

His running "walk this way" gag is also the inspiration for the song "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith. The gag was copied from William Powell's ad-lib in After the Thin Man (1936).

Children from his first marriage: Stefanie Brooks (born 1956), Nicholas Brooks (born 1957) and Eddie Brooks (born 1959). Has one son with Anne Bancroft: Max Brooks (born 1972).

His stage name is an adaptation of his mother's maiden name, Brookman.

He learned how to play drums from legendary Jazz drummer Buddy Rich and began making money with them at age fourteen.

In the original film version of The Producers (1967), Brooks' voice can be heard singing the line "Don't be stupid/Be a schmarty/Come and join the Nazi Party" during the "Springtime for Hitler" number. For the Broadway musical version, he repeats this task, with the live actor lip-synching to a recording of Brooks.

Is a huge fan of the original Star Trek (1966) series.

Claims the most flattering thing to happen to him during his long show business career was when Hedy Lamarr sued the producers of Blazing Saddles (1974) over the similar-sounding name of one of the lead characters ("Hedley Lamarr", who is mistakenly addressed as "Hedy", to his annoyance) because Brooks believes it is unusual for a "big name" actor to pay so much attention to such details. The suit was settled out of court.

Worked with son Nicholas Brooks at Brooksfilm. Nicky was a story editor on The Fly (1986), The Fly II (1989) and Spaceballs (1987).

Trained to be a combat engineer as part of the 1104 Engineer Combat Battalion of the 78th Division when he enlisted in the Army Reserve Specialized Training Program during World War II.

Worked as a stand-up comedy "tummeler" in Catskill Mountains resorts before joining Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows (1950) immortal writing staff in the 1950s, which featured Neil Simon. It's also where he met performer Carl Reiner. This legendary Caesar show was the basis for the comedy classic, My Favorite Year (1982).

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on April 23, 2010.

Despite being an accomplished and prolific songwriter, he is completely musically illiterate and his only experience with musical instruments was as a drummer. He hums all of his music into a tape recorder and then has an arranger transcribe it.

Friends with Carl Reiner, Gene Wilder, Norman Lear, Cloris Leachman, and Richard Benjamin.

Was presented, by Martin Scorsese, the 41st Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, California on June 6, 2013.

Mel Brooks is one of the few entertainment industry elites to receive the combination of awards known as the "EGOT": at least one competitive Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony each. He won his first Emmy in 1967 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Variety Programming for the "Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special." His first Grammys (both won in 1999) were for Best Spoken Comedy Album for "The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000" and Best Musical Theater Album for "The Producers." In 1969 he won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar (aka Academy Award) for "The Producers." In 2001 he won Tonys for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score for "The Producers.".

Has performed a rap song for the soundtrack of History of the World: Part I (1981) called "It's Good to Be the King". It was a surprisingly successful hip-hop/dance hit in 1981. He followed it up with "Hitler Rap" for To Be or Not to Be (1983). The song was not as successful. But the lyric "Don't be stupid, be a smarty/Come and join the Nazi Party" was originally used in the original movie version of The Producers (1967), then later reused in Brooks' Broadway version of "The Producers".

He has appeared in five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Producers (1967), Putney Swope (1969), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974) and The Muppet Movie (1979). He has also directed three films that are in the registry: The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein.

The 1944 edition of the Eastern District High School (Brooklyn, N.Y.) yearbook featured the future Mel Brooks (born Melvin Kaminsky) stating that his goal was to become President of the United States; forty-three years later, in 1987, his ambition was to be fulfilled, if only in fiction and in part -- in the movie Spaceballs (1987), he portrayed Spaceball leader "President Skroob" (an anagram of "Brooks").

His film The Producers (1967) was the inspiration for the title of the album "Achtung Baby" (1991) by the rock band U2.

Was considered for the role of Dr. Sam Loomis in the horror film Halloween (1978), which went to Donald Pleasence.

Counts Strangers on a Train (1951) as his favorite Alfred Hitchcock film.

His father died when Mel was age two and his impoverished childhood has been called 'Dickensian'.

Gene Wilder asked him to direct The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975). He declined, stating that he would find it difficult to direct a screenplay that wasn't his own conception. Brooks did say though that Wilder should go off and make this film, could call upon him day or night, and after making this movie, he better "come back home as soon as you're done!" Brooks did cameo as the voice of departing assassin after choosing the "lady" door over the "tiger" door, only to discover they're both tiger doors.

Based the character of Max Bialystock in The Producers (1967) on a former boss who was a seedy theater impresario named Benjamin Kutcher.

Has cited his favorite films as Bicycle Thieves (1948) and The Grand Illusion (1937).

Attended Brooklyn College on the G.I. Bill before dropping out.

He produced and wrote the music, lyrics, and book for the Broadway musical "The Producers" (2001), the musical version of his earlier movie The Producers (1967). The Broadway hit musical then lead to the musical movie The Producers (2005).

Is one of the five winners of the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors. Other 2009 winners were Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro, Dave Brubeck and Grace Bumbry.

Produced the stage musical adaptation of his movie Young Frankenstein (1974). The musical opened on Halloween night, October 31, 2007, at the St. James Theatre on Broadway after a summer try-out at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. (April 2007)

Has one grandson: Henry Michael Brooks (Max's son) (born April 2005).

Often ate dinner at the Pritikin Longevity Center in Santa Monica, California, with his wife Anne Bancroft.

Used comedy as a child to become accepted by other kids.

Named one of E!'s "Top 20 entertainers of 2001".

In 1962, the year that his divorce from his first wife was finalized, Brooks wrote an original screenplay entitled "Marriage is a Dirty Rotten Fraud". It was never filmed.

Began his theater work in 1947 with a Red Bank, New Jersey theatre troupe, which included comedian/impressionist Will Jordan.

Wrote and inspired much of 'Your Show of Shows' for Sid Caesar which ended in 1959.