Mel Brooks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mel Brooks | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service/branch | .gif){kind=small}  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1944 – c. 1946 |
| Rank |  Corporal |
| Unit |
|
| Awards | |
Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926)[1] is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor andproducer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as 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, The 2000 Year Old Man. 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 most well known films include The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World, Part I, Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. More recently he has 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.
Brooks is a member of the short list of entertainers with the distinction of having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award. He is to receive the 41st AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013. 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.[2]
Early life [edit]
Brooks was born Melvin James Kaminsky in Brooklyn, New York, a son of James Kaminsky and his wife Kate (née Brookman).[3] His father's family were German Jews from the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (modern Gdansk, Poland); his mother's family were Ukrainian Jews from Kiev.[4] He had three older brothers, Irving, Lenny, and Bernie. His father died of kidney disease, at 34, when Brooks was two years old.[5] Brooks has said of his father's death, that "there's an outrage there. I may be angry at God, or at the world, for that. And I'm sure a lot of my comedy is based on anger and hostility. Growing up in Williamsburg, I learned to clothe it in comedy to spare myself problems—like a punch in the face. "[6]
Brooks was a small, sickly boy who was often bullied and picked on by his classmates.[7] He was taught by Buddy Rich (who had also grown up in Williamsburg) how to play the drums and started earning money at it when he was fourteen.[6] After attending Abraham Lincoln High School for a year, Brooks graduated from Eastern District High School[8] and then spent a year at Brooklyn College as a psychology major before being drafted into the army.[6] He attended the Army Specialized Training Program[9] conducted at the Virginia Military Institute[10] (although not actually as a VMI cadet), served in the United States Army as a corporal in the 1104 Engineer Combat Battalion, 78th Infantry Division during World War II.
No comments:
Post a Comment