Brooks went on to make classic comedies like \u201cThe Producers,\u201d \u201cBlazing Saddles,\u201d \u201cYoung Frankenstein,\u201d \u201cHigh Anxiety,\u201d \u201cSpaceballs\u201d and \u201cRobin Hood: Men in Tights.\u201d<\/p>\n
It all started, Brooks told The Associated Press in 2021, with his childhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
\t \u201cI wanted to keep the party going. I wanted to keep the happiness and joy and explosions of laughter going into a dour part of our lives, not our childhood anymore,\u201d Brooks recalled. \u201cI was once interviewed and the guy said, \u2018What was the happiest part of your life? Was it winning the Academy Award? Was it marrying Anne Bancroft?\u2019 I said no, not at all. It was my childhood. From about 4 or 5 to 9, it was the most exciting, happiest, joyous life that anyone could experience.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guy said, \u2018What happened at 9?\u2019 I said, \u2018Homework.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Even now, Brooks hasn\u2019t retired. In April, Brooks submitted a video message to Eddie Murphy to honor him for his\u00a0AFI life achievement award. In May,\u00a0he announced\u00a0that he was donating thousands of his documents and photographs to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been proud to say that I make people laugh for a living,\u201d Brooks said then in a statement. \u201cSo, knowing that my work will have a home at comedy\u2019s national archive and continue making people laugh leaves me with a deep sense of pride.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooks is also producing and appearing in next year\u2019s sequel to Spaceballs, releasing four decades after the first movie, titled, \u201cSpaceballs: The New One.\u201d It will mark his first major, live-action big-screen role since 1995\u2019s \u201cDracula: Dead and Loving It.\u201d<\/p>\n \t To mark the occasion of Brooks\u2019 centennial, the American Film Institute on Friday named 1974\u2019s \u201cBlazing Saddles\u201d the funniest film of all time. It has previously ranked sixth on its list of 100 greatest movies. Brooks\u2019 film displaced \u201cSome Like It Hot\u201d \u2014 which Brooks had long held wasn\u2019t as funny as his movies \u2014 from the top spot.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s right!\u201d said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and chief executive. \u201cWe\u2019re happy to right this wrong as Mel celebrates his centennial. It\u2019s good to be the king, and may he live to be a 2,000-year-old man. Happy birthday, Mel!\u201d<\/p>\n Brooks has sometimes made mortality a joke, too. In a 1980s sketch, he created a coin-operated gravestone for himself that played a videotaped message. It began: \u201cI was Mel Brooks, one of the funniest little Jews to walk the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked in that AP 2021 interview if he thought much about death, Brooks said no.<\/p>\n \u201cI gave up after 60 thinking about it because if I did, I\u2019d be thinking about it all the time. So I don\u2019t think about it much. When and if it happens, it\u2019s going to be a sad day \u2014 for everybody but me,\u201d Brooks said, laughing.<\/p>\n \u201cI enjoy living,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019d like to do it as long as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tFile: Mel Brooks poses in Los Angeles on July 23, 1991. (AP Photo\/Nick Ut, File)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AP991120566155-e1782580413682-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tThis June 6, 2013, file photo shows honoree Mel Brooks onstage for the American Film Institute\u2019s 41st Lifetime Achievement Award Gala in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizello\/Invision\/AP, File)<\/p>\n
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