Mel Brooks
Raised in Brooklyn New York by his single Eastern European Jewish mother. After high school he joined the Army to fight Hitler, where he got to see the Europe his family always talked about. He got his start writing for Your Show of Shows alongside Sid Caesar, Imogene Cocoa, Neil Simon, Selma Diamond, and Carl Reiner. Together, they shook up the comedy world.
Still, he wanted to make movies. First came The Producers, where he became a house name. Next he was either writing, directing, acting, or producing classic comedies like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein or serious dramas like The Elephant Man and My Favorite Year.
Yet, he says he is most proud of his marriage with Anne Bancroft. While she was regal, quiet, and elegant, he was emotional, talkative, and gaudy. When she passed away, the only thing he said was "life has gone out of me. She was my everything."
Let's talk about the great Mel Brooks.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 50 | October 21, 2023 1:53 PM
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He might come off as goofy, but he is one of the smartest, classiest, and most sophisticated men ever in show business. His genuine love of wine, Russian literature, Beethoven, and Anne Bancroft are just a few examples.
Of course, he would never describe himself as such.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | September 3, 2023 4:54 PM
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One of the funniest & best writers there was.
Love his work.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | September 3, 2023 4:55 PM
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He has never said anything bad about anyone. A true class act
by Anonymous | reply 5 | September 3, 2023 4:57 PM
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He used to play in my Grandfather’s poker game.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | September 3, 2023 4:58 PM
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[quote]or serious dramas like The Elephant Man and My Favorite Year.
Huh?
by Anonymous | reply 8 | September 3, 2023 4:59 PM
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R8 he produced those films
by Anonymous | reply 9 | September 3, 2023 5:01 PM
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A conversation with Mel Brooks and Ben Mankiewicz
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 10 | September 3, 2023 5:02 PM
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[quote] He has never said anything bad about anyone. A true class act
Not even HITLER?
by Anonymous | reply 11 | September 3, 2023 5:05 PM
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He made 1983’s To Be or Not to Be in which he recited Hamlet’s famous speech. Just three years earlier Eric Porter played Polonius in a BBC television production of Hamlet.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | September 3, 2023 5:05 PM
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Mel Brooks on Desert Island Discs. Roy Plomley is in stitches the entire time.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 14 | September 3, 2023 5:06 PM
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[quote][R8] he produced those films
I'm aware of that, r9, but I've never considered My Favorite Year a "serious drama".
by Anonymous | reply 15 | September 3, 2023 5:11 PM
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R11 No, Brooks says that laughing at them is better
by Anonymous | reply 17 | September 3, 2023 5:12 PM
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r6 Rose, are you sure you're not Homer Simpson?
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 18 | September 3, 2023 5:12 PM
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[quote] He got his start writing for Your Show of Shows alongside Sid Caesar, Imogene Cocoa, Neil Simon, Selma Diamond, and Carl Reiner.
Imogene COCA was never a writer.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | September 3, 2023 5:14 PM
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As a Warner Bros employee, I saw Blazing Saddles before it was released along with a bunch of other employees from accounting.
Mel Brooks work really amazed me. I loved that movie.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | September 3, 2023 5:19 PM
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Springtime for Hitler is one of the funniest songs of all time.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 21 | September 3, 2023 5:19 PM
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Brooks says he is restoration comedy and no different than Wycherley
by Anonymous | reply 26 | September 3, 2023 7:38 PM
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He was close friends with my husband's parents. They once came by (Bancroft and him) in a limo and picked up Rob's parents for McDonalds before a movie.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | September 3, 2023 7:53 PM
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How could you post that literal violence, R24? You brute, you brute, you brute, you vicious brute! 😉🤣
by Anonymous | reply 29 | September 3, 2023 7:54 PM
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I saw the Broadway version of The Producers with the original cast. I had already memorized the score by listening to the CD. What an absolutely delightful evening.
After 20 years, the score is, for me, okay; there are some real clunkers in the lyrics. But the exuberance of what Brooks' wrote, the 100% of the entire cast? Yea, I still smile and often laugh at what's playing.
He's a treasure.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | September 3, 2023 8:24 PM
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His son Max is attractive too
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 33 | September 3, 2023 8:28 PM
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Has anyone else watched The History of the World Part 2 on HBO? We just finished watching the first series and it is really funny. Mel Brooks produced, with a lot of recognizable comedic faces playing historic characters. There were a bunch of laugh out loud moments.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 35 | September 3, 2023 9:23 PM
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Why do we never hear about History of the World Part 1? If there's a part 2, there's gotta be a part 1.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | September 3, 2023 9:37 PM
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An absolute inspiration and hero of mine!!
My family has more private Mel Brooks-written jokes than I could count because we kids grew up in the 70s and my parents loved him, too: my 84-year old dad wears his “Sedagive?” tee all the time and has Young Frankenstein action figures in his office and at my mom’s memorial service, we played “Blazing Saddles”' which is absolutely what she would have wanted. Brooks’s wit and silliness are absolutely unmatched and I’m grateful to be old enough to have seen his biggest movies in the theatre with other fans.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | September 3, 2023 9:48 PM
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You already missed it R36
by Anonymous | reply 39 | September 3, 2023 9:50 PM
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There are very few people who actually qualify as National Treasures -but Mel Brooks is one of them.
I hope he know just how much he is beloved by all of us.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | September 3, 2023 10:22 PM
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You knew Brooks and Bancroft really and genuinely love each other.
There is just something so wholesome and honest about being hilarious and successful, but also married to the same woman for 50 years years.
by Anonymous | reply 42 | September 4, 2023 3:16 PM
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Mel Brooks is an angel from heaven. Love how he’s more unhinged than Jiminy Glick in that clip above.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | September 4, 2023 3:54 PM
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It seems we’ve identified another celebrity who is universally beloved on DL.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | September 4, 2023 7:07 PM
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R45 Wrong. I actually hate him. Terrible person. And he is..... *Jewish*
by Anonymous | reply 46 | September 4, 2023 7:10 PM
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A friend met him in the 1970s, when we were in high school. She and her mother had stumbled over a location shoot for "High Anxiety", and she said that Mel noticed them standing there gawking. He came up and introduced himself, showed them around for 10-15 minutes, and was unbelievably nice.
Now my friend was a pretty blonde girl of 17 or so, but no, he didn't do anything inappropriate. He was just being nice, because he was a nice person.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | September 4, 2023 10:47 PM
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R48 that's sweet. Yeah he is just a good person. End of story.
by Anonymous | reply 49 | September 22, 2023 4:26 AM
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He is on a list of people I inspire to be. War, witty, and comforting, but also intelligent and successful.
It is a fine line, but Brooks pulls it off almost effortlessly.
by Anonymous | reply 50 | October 21, 2023 1:53 PM
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