orig. Melvin Kaminsky
born June 28, 1926, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.
U.S. director, producer, and actor.
He wrote comedy routines for Sid Caesar 's television shows (1949–59) and cocreated the TV series Get Smart (1965). He wrote and directed his first feature film, The Producers (1968, Academy Award for writing), which was later transformed into a hit Broadway musical. He directed, produced, and cowrote (and sometimes acted in) film comedies such as Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), and Spaceballs (1987).