Mel Brookshas been making audiences laugh for more than six decades! The legendary actor, director, comedian and producer, who turns 99 on June 28, 2025, kicked off his career in comedy by helping fellow funnyman Sid Caesar with hisYour Show of Shows.And the rest, well, is history! Look back at the EGOT winner's life and career in photos, from his military service to his indelible mark on Hollywood's humor scene. Born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926, Mel Brooks was the youngest of four boys born to Abraham and Kate Kaminsky. (He eventually adapted his mother's maiden name, Brookman, into his stage name.) Abraham died when Brooks was only 2, leaving his brothers to help raise Mel and make ends meet in the household. (He's pictured here at age 8 with, from left, cousin Merril and brothers Lenny, Irving and Bernie.) Courtesy Penguin Random House Brooks had started to make a name for himself entertaining guests at hotels in the Catskills. He writes inhis autobiographyAll About Me!that in his job as a "pool tummeler," whose sole purpose it was to keep poolgoers amused, he would put on a derby hat, alpaca coat and carry two rock-filled suitcases, then fall into the pool for laughs. But World War II put a pause on his burgeoning show business career, and he joined the Army Specialized Training Reserve program at the Virginia Military Institute before going to basic training at Fort Sill. He served overseas at the end of the war in various duties, but once again got a chance to work as a performer when he was asked to join a touring variety show to entertain the troops in the Army camps still stationed in Europe. ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Brooks got his start in comedy as a writer for Sid Caesar'sYour Show of Shows,after meeting Caesar when they both were comedians at "Borscht Belt" hotels in the Catskills. But he broke out as a star in his own right with his "2,000 Year Old Man" sketches, in which his best friend Carl Reiner (whom he met working on Caesar's show)interviewed him in character as, you guessed it, a 2,000-year-old man. He became a household name for being a popular talk show guest — so in demand, in fact, that he appeared on the first-ever episode ofThe Tonight Show with Johnny Carson(seen here cracking up the host on the debut show in 1961). Dan Farrell/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Also in 1961, Brooks met the love of his life, actress Anne Bancroft. After seeing her rehearsing for a Perry Como show, he recalls in his autobiographyAll About Me!, "When the song was over, I leapt to my feet, applauded madly, and shouted, 'Anne Bancroft! I love you!' " They dated for three years, but Brooks hadn't quite found his footing financially so he hesitated to propose. When his first sitcom,Get Smart!,took off, he and Bancroft finally wed at City Hall, he wrote, using her hoop earring in the place of the ring he'd forgotten. FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty After his success on TV, Brooks began writing and then directing comedies, includingBlazing Saddles (seen here with Cleavon Little and Harvey Korman), which was a massive success — and an enduring one. In 2006, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and added to the National Film Registry for preservation. He continued to write, direct, produce and star in comedies throughout the years, including 1981'sA History of the World, Part I.(Seen here with Mary Margaret Humes.) Brooks and Bancroft had one son together, Max, now a screenwriter himself. Max and his son Henry joined Brooks as he got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010. Brooks also has three children from his first marriage to dancer Florence Baum: Stefanie, Nicky and Eddie, as well as a granddaughter, Samantha. Andy Butterton - PA Images/PA Images via Getty After years of success in TV and film, Brooks decided to try his hand at writing a Broadway musical, adapting his filmThe Producersfor the stage. It debuted on April 19, 2001, with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane as stars, and went on to run for more than 2,500 performances and earn a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards. (Brooks is seen here with chorus girls from the show's London debut.) He followed it up with a musical version of his filmYoung Frankenstein. Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times via Getty Brooks isone of the few entertainers to earn an EGOT(an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) — and in fact, he's won multiple of each. Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Beforeher death from uterine cancerin 2005, Brooks and Bancroft were known for having a great love story —she would tell peoplethat when she heard his key in the door, she knew "the party's about to start." Brooks opened up to PEOPLE about his loss. "Living this life without her is not easy," he said, adding that he cherishes their memories together: "There were a lot of great kisses and great spaghetti." Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Brooks has also been given some of the highest honors the United States can bestow on its artists, including a Kennedy Center honor in 2009 alongsideRobert De Niro,Bruce Springsteen, Dave Brubeck and Grace Bumbry. In 2015, PresidentBarack Obamaawarded Brooks the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor given to artists by the U.S. government. Despite it being a major occasion. Brooks couldn't resist making light of the moment. Brooks worked with some of the same actors again and again throughout his career. One of his most indelible working relationships and friendships was with the late Gene Wilder, who starred inYoung Frankenstein, The Producersand more. Here, Brooks and Wilder shared a moment at the Broadway opening ofYoung Frankenstein. Brooks is featured throughout the 2024 documentaryRemembering Gene Wilderand talks about his attempts to help Wilder following his Alzheimer's diagnosis. "I called him a lot thinking, 'Maybe if I gave him enough references I could get him out of it,' "he says in the film."Insanity [on] my part. He was in the throughs of that terrible disease. We could never talk too long after he got it. It was so sad, it made me cry a lot." Brooks and Reiner remained best friends untilReiner's death in 2020, getting together nightlyto eat dinner on TV trays and watch a movie orJeopardy!. (Jerry Seinfeld visited the two during an episode ofComedians in Cars Getting Coffee.) "I met him in 1950 when he joined Sid Caesar onYour Show of Showsand we've been best friends ever since,"Brooks said at the time. "I loved him." Brooks loves to work, and never slowed down for a minute. He toured the country doing shows, and when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he wrote his memoir, which he published in 2021. "I'm proud to say I have made people laugh for a living, and whether or not you'll allow me to, I'm going to brag — I can honestly say, I've done it as well as anybody," he wrote inAll About Me!. "If you can laugh, you can get by. You can survive when things are bad if you have a sense of humor." Mel Brooks/X Brooks is not only serving as a producer on the upcomingJosh Gad-led sequel to his 1987 comedySpaceballs,on June 12, it was shared that the legendary actor, who turns 99 on June 28,will be in the film as well— reprising his role as Yogurt. "I told you we'd be back," Brooks wrote in a post he shared onXalongside video announcing that the untitled movie will premiere in 2027. "After 40 years, we asked, 'What do the fans want?' But instead, we're making this movie," he says at the end of the video. "May the Schwartz be with you. Read the original article onPeople