Oscar Wins

Original Screenplay
The Producers

Oscar Nominations

Original Song
Blazing Saddles

Adapted Screenplay
Young Frankenstein

Honorary Oscar

2023
"For his comedic brilliance, producing acumen and expansive body of work."

When Mel Brooks won his first Oscar in 1969 for writing The Producers, he stood onstage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and earnestly addressed the crowd, "Well, I'll just say what's in my heart: Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump." 

The Producers may be the most cheerfully absurdist movie ever made, and with it, Brooks revolutionized how punchlines were delivered on-screen: he didn't simply build to a joke, as movies had for decades, but he strung them together, skit by skit, until he left audiences convulsed with laughter. Like the producers in his movie, Brooks could never have imagined the reception that The Producers would receive: At the 41st Oscars, Wilder was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Brooks won for Best Original Screenplay.

"When they called my name, I was tempted to ask, 'Could you say that again? I don’t think I heard right,'" Brooks said, more than half a century after the win. "For starters, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to win! I was up against blockbusters like Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers. It was my first time attending the Oscars, and I was honestly more worried about my bow tie being crooked than winning and having to give a speech." 

Blazing Saddles, Brooks’ first bona fide hit at the box office, received three Oscar nominations in 1975: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Madeline Kahn as burlesque star Lili Von Shtupp, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Song for the title song, "Blazing Saddles," which featured music by John Morris and lyrics by Brooks. That year, Brooks was a dual nominee, also receiving a nomination for writing Young Frankenstein.

In 2001, Brooks turned The Producers into an actual hit Broadway musical, and then in 2005, he wrote and produced another film adaptation of The Producers.

"More than anything, I think what makes a movie a success is the story and the screenplay – and I'm not just saying that because I wrote it and won an Oscar for it," Brooks said. "The Producers has a simple, great premise: you can make more money with a flop than you can with a hit. The premise is the engine that drives the whole movie." 

In 2024, 55 years after winning his first Oscar, Brooks was awarded a second one – an Honorary Oscar celebrating a lifetime of exceptional contributions that forever changed the movies.

In a rare moment of utter earnestness, Brooks says the acknowledgement means a lot to him. "It means that your colleagues have some genuine regard and affection for your work," he says. "It's a wonderful feeling to know that you are still counted as a valuable contributor to the art of film."

Of course, Brooks won't share where he keeps his Oscars these days. "I am afraid someone will steal it," he deadpans. "But I can tell you where it used to be – on top of my mother's TV set! Once when I went to visit her, I found out that she was giving daily tours to show her neighbors that her little Melvin was an Oscar winner."