{"id":663583,"date":"2026-06-29T01:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T01:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/663583\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T01:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T01:29:18","slug":"mel-brooks-turns-100-and-says-this-is-the-key-to-a-long-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/663583\/","title":{"rendered":"Mel Brooks turns 100 \u2014 and says this is the key to a long life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mel Brooks<\/a> is celebrating his centennial birthday today. The comedy legend<\/a> behind some of cinema\u2019s greatest spoofs, including Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein<\/a> and The Producers, turned 100 on Sunday, June 28.<\/p>\n

Brooks was born Melvin James Kaminsky in Brooklyn on June 28, 1926, and fought in the Second World War, where he served as a combat engineer for the U.S. Army.<\/p>\n

After returning home, he found success writing for television before becoming one of Hollywood\u2019s most influential comic filmmakers, earning an Academy Award, multiple Emmys, Grammys and Tonys during a career spanning more than seven decades.<\/p>\n

In an interview with People<\/a> magazine earlier, Brooks revealed the secret to his longevity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think laughing keeps you healthy and happy,\u201d he told the publication.<\/p>\n

\"MelMel Brooks turned 100 on June 28 (2026 Invision)\"BrooksBrooks is known for satirical comedies like 1977\u2019s \u2018High Anxiety\u2019 (pictured), which he produced, directed and starred in (AP2009)<\/p>\n

Even as his age hits triple digits, Brooks has remained an active creative force. He is set to reprise his famous role as Yogurt in the upcoming Spaceballs reboot, produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Josh Gad, planned for release in 2027. He is also lending his voice to the forthcoming animated film The Land of Sometimes.<\/p>\n

Brooks\u2019s life and legacy were explored in the two-part HBO documentary Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man!, released in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing sound, people laughing at something I created,\u201d Brooks told People ahead of the documentary. \u201cMaking comedy is a great job. It keeps you sane and happy. It gives you a reason to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, Brooks announced that he was donating thousands of his documents and photographs to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.<\/p>\n

\"JuddJudd Apatow (left) directed and co-produced the recent two-part HBO documentary \u2018Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!\u2019 (Getty)<\/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 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 a 2021 interview with The Associated Press 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

Additional reporting by The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[33792,96,59,33794,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-663583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bestof","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-topix","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}