Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft in 2003.Credit : SGranitz/WireImage
More than twenty years after losing his wife, legendary filmmaker and comedian Mel Brooks is still living with the quiet ache of that loss. In the upcoming HBO documentary Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!, premiering January 22, those closest to him offer a deeply personal look at how the death of Anne Bancroft reshaped his life.
Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft were married for over four decades, from 1964 until her death from cancer in 2005. Their relationship wasn’t just a Hollywood love story—it was a partnership built on trust, creative belief, and unwavering friendship.
According to their son, Max Brooks, the loss was devastating. “She had cancer. She beat it. It came back,” he shares in the documentary. What followed was, in his words, “a slow, horrible, lingering time”—a reality painfully familiar to anyone who has watched a loved one battle cancer. Brooks often refers to it simply as “a bad break,” a phrase that barely captures the depth of the loss.
Mel Brooks’ son Edward “Eddie” Brooks remembers a visible change in his father after Bancroft passed away. “All the light went out,” he says. “He was not in a good place.” Anne wasn’t just his wife—she was the person he worshipped, the one who anchored him emotionally and creatively.
That creative belief mattered more than many realize. Bancroft stood by Brooks during uncertain phases of his career, encouraging him to take risks when success was far from guaranteed. “If it came from her, it was like the gospel,” Eddie recalls. Her confidence gave Brooks the courage to trust his own voice.
Max offers a moving metaphor that captures their bond perfectly: “My dad was the water, and my mother was the glass. When the glass shattered, I was worried the water was going to go everywhere.” It’s a simple image, but one that speaks volumes about love, balance, and loss.
When director Judd Apatow asks Mel Brooks what he misses most about Anne, his answer is both tender and heartbreaking. “There are too many things,” Brooks says. It’s the small, intimate moments—the way she looked at him, the way she moved, the shared understanding—that still linger. “Some things stay with you forever,” he adds.
Over time, humor and friendship helped Brooks find his footing again. His longtime friend Carl Reiner, who also experienced profound loss, played a key role in helping him open up. Today, Brooks talks about Anne more freely than he once did.
His granddaughter Samantha Brooks recalls a recent moment that felt quietly healing. Sitting together on the couch, Brooks suggested watching To Be or Not to Be, the 1983 film they made together. Seeing Anne sing, perform, and simply be herself brought comfort—almost like rediscovering something that had been missing.
At 99, Mel Brooks still believes in laughter as medicine. But he’s also honest about grief. “You can’t indulge yourself in being unhappy and miserable,” he says. “It doesn’t make the pain go away.” Instead, he believes in finding the courage to move forward, even while carrying love and loss side by side.
It’s a reminder that grief never truly disappears—but with time, love, and resilience, it can soften into something that still allows room for joy.