Max James Kaminsky is the father of iconic actor Mel Brooks. Max James Kaminsky’s son is also a comedian and filmmaker with a career of over seven decades. He is known as a writer and director of various successful broad farces and parodies. A recipient of numerous accolades, he is one of 18 entertainers to win the EGOT. The Celebrated Hollywood personality also received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013, a British Film Institute Fellowship in 2015, a National Medal of Arts in 2016, a BAFTA Fellowship in 2017, and the Honorary Academy Award in 2023.

Max James Kaminsky: Bio Summary

Who is Mel Brooks’ father?

Max James Kaminsky was born in 1895 in Belarus. He was the son of Shlaimie Kaminsky and Basha Ruchel Silverstone. Max James was not the only child of the couple, he had siblings-  Martha (Kaminsky) Silverstone, Harry Vincent Kaminsky, Pauline (Kaminsky) Dorsky, Irving Kaminsky, Jack Kaminsky, Percy Kaminsky, Arthur Kaminsky, and Lee Kaminsky. Max was the eldest of the children. Mel Brooks’ father’s family were German Jews from Danzig (Gdańsk, Poland).

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Max James Kaminsky met and married  Kate Kaminsky (née Brookman) in 1914 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York United States. The couple’s marriage started on a good note when they gave birth to four children- Irving George Kaminsky, Leonard Harvey Kaminsky, Bernard Lawrence Kaminsky, and Melvin James Brooks.

Mel Brooks’ father died when he was two

Brooks’ father unfortunately died of tuberculosis of the kidney at 34 when Brooks was two years old. The actor has said of his father’s death, “There’s an outrage there. I may be angry at God, or at the world, for that. And I’m sure a lot of my comedy is based on anger and hostility. Growing up in Williamsburg, I learned to clothe it in comedy to spare myself problems—like a punch in the face.“

Max James Kaminsky was laid to rest at Mount Judah Cemetery Ridgewood, Queens County, New York, USA at Section 2, Block 2, Grave #39, Path: Left 12, Society: MMA Dubrove per his Findagrave profile.

The legendary Hollywood actor was a small, sickly boy who often was bullied and teased by his classmates because of his size. Brooks grew up in tenement housing. At a very young age, he remembers going to a Broadway show with his maternal uncle Joe—a taxi driver who drove the Broadway doormen back to Brooklyn for free and was given the tickets in gratitude—and saw Anything Goes with William Gaxton, Ethel Merman, and Victor Moore at the Alvin Theater. After the show, he told his uncle that he was not going to work in the garment district like everyone else but was absolutely going into show business.

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During his teens, Brooks who was born Melvin James Kaminsky changed his name to Melvin Brooks, influenced by his mother’s maiden name Brookman, after being confused with trumpeter Max Kaminsky. He changed the name to maintain originality.

Years later, the Hollywood icon married Florence Baum in 1953. The former couple welcomed three kids together — Stephanie Brooks, Nicky Brooks, and Eddie Brooks. Sadly, their union ended in divorce in 1962. Just two years later, Mel found love again with Anne Bancroft. They married in 1964 and had just one child together, Max Brooks, in 1972. 

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