“I love you more than words Mel,” Josh Gad, who is working with Mel Brooks on a sequel to 1987’s ‘Spaceballs,’ wrote on Instagram on Brooks’ 98th 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡day

By Tommy McArdle Tommy McArdle Tommy McArdle is a writer-reporter on the Movies team at PEOPLE. Tommy joined PEOPLE in 2022. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on June 28, 2024 12:13PM EDTMel Brooks on Feb. 27, 2023. Photo:

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Happy 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡day, Mel Brooks!

Brooks, the EGOT recipient and legendary comedian and filmmaker, celebrates his 98th 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡day on Friday, June 28. Though he has been working in show business for well over 50 years, Brooks — who recently received a career achievement award at the 84th annual Peabody Awards on June 9 — is still as busy as ever with multiple projects in the works, including the long-awaited sequel to his 1987 spoof film Spaceballs.

Brooks became an EGOT honoree in 2001 when he picked up three Tony Awards for his work on the Broadway adaptation of his classic 1968 film The Producers. Most recently, Billy Crystal highlighted Brooks’ remarkable career and body of work at the Peabody Awards.

Brooks appeared in his usual humorous spirits at that June 9 ceremony, joking during his acceptance speech that he did not know what the Peabody Award was for when he was told he was being awarded the honor.

Mel Brooks Recalls Trying to Help Gene Wilder with His Memory After Alzheimer’s Diagnosis: ‘It Was So Sad’Billy Crystal and Mel Brooks on June 9, 2024.

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“I said, ‘No s—?’ I thought, ‘Well, maybe it was for being the best looking guy in show business,’ ” he said during the event.

“This is a great honor and it has been won by a distinguished group of esteemed, well-worth winning this award and I feel a little, I don’t know,” he added in his speech. “You really want me to be part of this? These are people that go to good restaurants.”

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Fans of Brooks’ comedies were recently treated to the news that he will executive produce a sequel to Spaceballs, the 1987 movie that parodies Star Wars and a number of other popular science fiction films. Josh Gad confirmed on Instagram on June 18 that he cowrote the project’s script and will star and co-produce the movie; Variety additionally reported that Brooks will also work on the movie as a producer.

“Happy 98th 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡day to my idol, my friend and my creative partner. I love you more than words Mel,” Gad wrote in an Instagram post on Brooks’ 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡day, sharing a photo of himself with his collaborators Kevin Salter and Josh Greenbaum with Brooks. “You my friend are the King and man does it still show 98 years in, ‘it’s good to be the King.’ 👑 Love you.”

Mel Brooks’ 4 Kids: All About Max, Nicky, Eddie and StefanieMel Brooks on Feb. 12, 2017.

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Brooks has four 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren; he shares his older three kids, Stefanie, 68, Nicky, 66, and Eddie, 65, with his first wife, the Broadway dancer Florence Baum. The pair were married from 1953 to 1962. He later married the Oscar-winning actress Anne Bancroft, with whom he shared one son with, Max, now 52. Bancroft died in 2005 at 73.

Aside from Spaceballs, Brooks’ IMDb page indicates he has two movies in the works he will act in or voice animated characters for. In 2023, Brooks produced, cowrote and narrated the Hulu series History of the World: Part II, a sketch comedy show that served as an extension of his 1981 movie History of the World: Part I. He also appeared in one episode of Only Murders in the Building‘s third season.