Mel Brooks is showing no signs of slowing down after 70 years in Tinseltown, as he will be accepting an honorary Oscar at the 14th Governors Awards in November 2023. “First of all, I am very happy to still be alive!” the 97-year-old EGOT winner hilariously said of the distinction, per People. “But secondly, it is so nice to be recognized by my peers in The Academy over 50 years after my last Oscar,” he added, referencing his 1969 win for Best Original Screenplay for The Producers. “A long time ago I was given a choice: I had an offer to be working as an apprentice accountant or as a coffee runner in show business. I’m still glad I chose the coffee.”
Born Melvin James Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York, the gifted comedy writer got his start writing for the TV show The Admiral Broadway Revue in 1949, A year later, he wrote for Your Show of Shows. Eventually, the success from these programs brought Mel to Get Smart, a show he co-created with Buck Henry that parodied James Bond-esque spy-thrillers.
After turning to the big screen with The Producers, Mel followed up with Blazing Saddles, which poked at the western genre, and Young Frankenstein, a spoof of the story of popular horror franchise, Frankenstein. He would continue his film career into his old age, eventually directing and starring in Space Balls, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and his last directorial credit, Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Regarded as one of the greatest comedic writers of all time, he was awarded the highest honors from the American Film Institute: the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013.
Mel was just as successful in his personal life as well. He had three children with his first wife Florence Baum: Stephanie, Nicky, and Eddie. Not much is known about their marriage and they divorced in 1962. Two years later, Mel would meet the love of his life on the set of The Perry Como Variety Show. Anne Bancroft, also known as the seductress Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, would eventually marry Mel in 1964. The two would stay together until her death in 2005, having one child together, Max Brooks.
As Mel prepares to accept his second Oscar and continues to keep his audience in stitches, learn more about his big brood, below.
On February 21, 1956, Stephanie Brooks was welcomed as the first child of Mel and Florence. Quickly succumbing to the Hollywood bug, Stephanie found success in a role in Human Traffic in 1999. She also worked as a production assistant on Tootsie and I, the Jury and as a casting assistant for Speed. She does not appear to have a social media account at this time.
In 1975, Mel told The New York Times that Eddie should do “film or theater,” Nicky could be a “doctor or filmmaker” and Stephanie should try something a little different. “My daughter Stephanie should write — she’s at Brandeis,” Mel told the newspaper. “Papers about Henry James, that kind. Very smart, brilliant.”
