caption active children module birth_place name birth_date genre image article_title birth_name medium
brooks the hollywood walk of fame on april 23 , 2010 attending a ceremony to receive a star on 1949 -- present 4 ; including max yes states army serviceyears = 1944 -- 1946 rank = 25px allegiance corporal unit = commands = battles_label = awards = = united states branch = 25px united brooklyn , new york , united states mel brooks 28 june 1926 farce sketch comedy , parody , musical comedy , satire , melbrooksapr10.jpg border mel brooks
 melvin james kaminsky film , television , musical theatre
mel brooks

melvin james `` mel '' brooks -lrb- né kaminsky , born june 28 , 1926 -rrb- is an american film director , screenwriter , comedian , actor , producer , composer , and songwriter .
he is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies .
he began his career as a comic and a writer for the early tv variety show `` your show of shows '' .
he became well known as part of the comedy duo with carl reiner in the comedy skit , `` the 2000 year old man '' .
he also created , with buck henry , the hit television comedy series , `` get smart '' , which ran from 1965 to 1970 .
in middle age he became one of the most successful film directors of the 1970s , with many of his films being among the top ten money makers of the year that they were released .
his best known films include `` the producers '' , `` the twelve chairs '' , `` blazing saddles '' , `` young frankenstein '' , `` silent movie '' , `` high anxiety '' , `` history of the world , part i '' , `` spaceballs '' and '' '' .
more recently , he had a smash hit on broadway with the musical adaptation of his first film , `` the producers '' .
he was married to the actress anne bancroft from 1964 until her death in 2005 .
in 2001 , having previously won an emmy , a grammy , and an oscar , he joined a small list of egot winners with his tony award for `` the producers '' .
he received a kennedy center honor in 2009 , the 41st afi life achievement award in june 2013 , and a british film institute fellowship in march 2015 .
three of his films ranked in the american film institute 's list of the top 100 comedy films of all-time , all of which ranked in the top 20 of the list : `` blazing saddles '' at number 6 , `` the producers '' at number 11 , and `` young frankenstein '' at number 13 .
