What is Mel Brooks' Net Worth?
Mel Brooks, an American comedian, producer, director, composer, and writer, boasts a net worth of $100 million. Renowned as one of the most beloved comedic actors of the 20th century, Brooks is famous for iconic films like Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. He also adapted his first film into a musical, The Producers, which ran on Broadway from 2001 to 2007 and generated over $200 million in ticket sales. Brooks is a member of the prestigious EGOT club, having won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award.
Early Life
Born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn, New York, on June 28, 1926, Brooks' childhood was marked by hardship following his father's death from kidney disease when he was only two. Living in tenement housing, Brooks' love for show business was sparked at age nine when his uncle Joe, a taxi driver, took him to see a Broadway production of Anything Goes.
Brooks started his career as a stand-up comic in the Catskills while in high school. After serving in the US Army during World War II, he transitioned to comedy writing. In 1949, Sid Caesar hired him for The Admiral Broadway Revue, paying him $50 a week.
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Success
In 1950, Caesar launched Your Show of Shows and brought Brooks into a writer's room that included future stars like Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, and Mel Tolkin.
Brooks and Reiner developed the famous comedy act The 2000 Year-Old Man. In 1965, Brooks hit it big with his creation of Get Smart, a comedy series that ran for 138 episodes over five seasons.
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The Producers
Brooks had long aspired to create a musical comedy about Nazis and Adolf Hitler. His screenplay for The Producers became his first feature film in 1967. Initially released as an independent film, it won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and gained cult status, especially on college campuses.
Years later, The Producers was adapted into a Broadway play, running from 2001 to 2007 and garnering unprecedented success with 12 Tony awards and enormous box office revenue.
Directing Career
In the 1970s, Brooks solidified his role as a writer/director with hits like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, the latter co-written with Gene Wilder and earning $86 million on a $2.8 million budget.
His other significant works include History of the World: Part I, Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, The Elephant Man, The Fly, and 84 Charing Cross Road.
Personal Life
Brooks married Florence Baum in 1953, with whom he had three children before their 1962 divorce. In 1964, he married actress Anne Bancroft, and they had one son, Max, remaining together until her death in 2005. Max Brooks, a successful writer, penned World War Z, which was adapted into a 2013 film starring Brad Pitt.
Real Estate
In June 2000, Brooks and Bancroft bought four ocean-view apartments in Santa Monica for $1.7 million, later adding a fifth unit and spending $500,000 on renovations. The combined property was listed in 2011 for $6 million and sold in 2013 for $5.5 million.
Their primary home was a 13,000-square-foot property in Santa Monica, purchased in 1978. They also bought an oceanfront Malibu house in 1977 for $515,000. Brooks retains a Manhattan penthouse condo acquired in 1990 for $350,000.
