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MEL BROOKS(Book, Music & Lyrics). Director, producer, writer and actor, Mel Brooks is the creator of such comedy classics as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety and Silent Movie. Brooks entered television during its "Golden Age," beginning as a writer for Sid Caesar, on "Your Show of Shows" in 1951. In 1955 and in 1957, Brooks received Emmy Award nominations (with others) for best comedy writing for "Caesars Hour" and in 1956, he was nominated (with others) for best writing for a variety or situation comedy. In 1952, Brooks wrote sketches for Leonard Sillman's Broadway smash hit revue, New Faces of 1952 and in 1957, together with Joe Darion, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical Shinbone Alley, which starred Eartha Kitt. In 1962, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical All-American, starring Ray Bolger. In the '60s, Brooks teamed up with Carl Reiner to write and perform The 2000 Year Old Man albums which became immediate bestsellers. In 1960 and 1961, Brooks and Reiner received Grammy Award nominations for the best spoken word comedy for 2000 Years and for best comedy performance for 2000 and One Years respectively. (In 1997, Brooks and Reiner teamed up again for The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000. Both a book and CD were released, the CD winning a Grammy Award in 1998 for the Best Spoken Word Album: Comedy. ) Mr. Brooks wrote and narrated The Critic, a short satire on avant-garde art films, for which he won the Academy Award for best animated short subject in 1964. In the following year of 1965, he teamed up with Buck Henry and created "Get Smart," the long running television show starring Don Adams as Agent 86. Brooks, along with others, received an Emmy Award for outstanding writing achievement in a comedy-variety in 1967 for "The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special." In 1968, he wrote and directed his first feature film, The Producers, starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, which earned him an Academy Award for the best original screenplay written directly for the screen. He then went on to create a remarkable string of hit comedies: 1970, wrote, directed and acted in The Twelve Chairs; 1974, co-wrote, directed and acted in Blazing Saddles, and was nominated, along with John Morris, for best title song, "Blazing Saddles;"1974, co-wrote and directed Young Frankenstein; 1976, co-wrote, directed and starred in Silent Movie; 1977, co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in High Anxiety; 1981, wrote, directed, produced and starred in History of the World, Part I; 1983, produced and starred in To Be or Not To Be; 1987, co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in the hit sci-fi spoof, Spaceballs; 1991, co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in Life Stinks; 1993, co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in Robin Hood: Men in Tights; 1995, co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in Dracula: Dead and Loving It. For three successive seasons, Brooks won the Emmy Award for his role as "Uncle Phil" on the hit comedy show, "Mad About You." His visionary film company, Brooksfilms Limited, founded in 1980, has produced some of America's most distinguished films. Among them are: David Lynch's The Elephant Man, starring John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins, with Hurt receiving one of the film's eight Oscar nominations; David Cronenberg's memorable hit, The Fly, starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis; Frances, in which Jessica Lange and Kim Stanley were Oscar-nominated; Richard Benjamin's My Favorite Year, in which Peter O'Toole earned an Oscar nomination; and 84 Charing Cross Road, in which Anne Bancroft won the British Academy Award opposite Anthony Hopkins. |
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