Los Angeles (AFP) — A 97-year-old Mel Brooks accepted a lifetime achievement Oscar in Hollywood on Tuesday, more than half a century after he won his only Academy Award with “The Producers.”
At a black-tie gala, Brooks — who memorably sent up Adolf Hitler in seminal satire “The Producers,” as well as exposing racial bigotry in films like “Blazing Saddles” — joked that he felt bad about the fate of his previous Oscar for best original screenplay.
“I miss it so much. I never should have sold it,” he said, to raucous laughter in the ballroom.
“I won’t sell this one, I swear to God!” Brooks added.
U.S. actor Mel Brooks (L) and actress Angela Bassett pose with their Academy Honorary Award during the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 14th Annual Governors Awards at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles on January 9, 2024. (ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
The legendary US comic and filmmaker is already one of the select few entertainers to win an Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy — collectively called an “EGOT” — across a career spanning eight decades.
His latest honor came at the Governors Awards, hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which each year honors four beloved industry veterans, many of whom are felt to have not received their dues at the regular Oscars.
41ST ACADEMY AWARDS – Airdate: April 14, 1969, shows U.S. actor Mel Brooks after the presentation (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
File/American film director and screenwriter Mel Brooks and his wife, actress Anne Bancroft (1931 – 2005) attend the 44th Annual Golden Globe Awards, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, 31st January 1987. (Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Getty Images)
Actor Mel Brooks (left) sits on the floor beside Harvey Korman as Cleavon Little kneels atop a desk, in a still from the film, ‘Blazing Saddles,’ directed by Mel Brooks, 1974. (Photo by Warner Bros./Courtesy of Getty Images)
The night’s other honorees were “E.T” editor Carol Littleton, and Michelle Satter, founding senior director of the Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs, which have helped foster the early careers of filmmakers from Quentin Tarantino to “Everything Everywhere All At Once” directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
Attendees included Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr and Florence Pugh on behalf of “Oppenheimer,” and Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie for “Barbie.”
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