The Best Performances In Mel Brooks Movies, Ranked

Mel Brooks (born June 28, 1926) is a comedy legend. His work has spanned several decades in TV, film, and on the stage. A handful of his films are considered some of the funniest films ever made. With memorable gags and characters, Brooks' impact on comedies and parody films is undeniable. Today, we'll be looking at the characters and the actors who brought those memorable characters to life. Here are some of the best performances in Mel Brooks movies.

6 Cleavon Little - Blazing Saddles (1974)

The lead role of Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddles was originally supposed to be played by Richard Pryor (who co-wrote the script with Mel Brooks); however, Pryor's history of drug problems made the studio consider him uninsurable. As a result, Cleavon Little was cast instead. Little walks into every scene with a calm, cool, and collected demeanor. Not exactly what you'd expect from someone who is appointed sheriff of a town where all the citizens hate him due to him being black (it was 1874 in the Old West, after all). Bart is a trickster, an Old Western version of Bugs Bunny (the Looney Tunes theme even plays during the film's "Candygram" scene), able to outwit everyone and everything that Rock Ridge and main villain, Hedley Lamarr, can throw at him. Little excels with every comedic scene he's given, from the aforementioned "Candygram" scene to his very first scene as sheriff, where he has to take himself hostage to escape from the hostile townspeople, who want to kill him. He may not be Richard Pryor, but Little performs admirably in his place.

5 Zero Mostel - The Producers (1967)

Mel Brooks' first film as a director follows a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer, who hasn't had a hit in a long time, but discovers he can make more money with a flop than a hit. That producer, named Max Bialystock, is played by Zero Mostel. The opening scene of the movie shows Mostel seducing a gullible old lady for a check made out to the title of his next play: Cash. When Gene Wilder's Leo Bloom offhandedly mentions that Bialystock could make more money with a flop than a hit, Bialystock sets off to find the worst play imaginable: Springtime For Hitler, a musical written by a demented Nazi. Mostel's Bialystock is greedy, a fraudster, unlikeable in almost everyway, and yet, Bialystock has a kinder side as shown in his interactions with Gene Wilder's Leo Bloom, which start out as dishonest, but eventually blossom into a true friendship. Mostel makes this transition believable, but Bialystock is at his heart a greedy man who doesn't learn his lessons, as the ending scene shows quite clearly.

4 Gene Wilder - The Producers (1967)

The other half of the producing duo in The Producers, Gene Wilder received a well-deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance in this film (He lost to Jack Albertson for The Subject Was Roses). Wilder's Leo Bloom is a shy, neurotic man, who still needs a literal security blanket when he gets too hysterical. In lesser hands, this performance might not work, but in Wilder's, it's great. The shyness, the neurosis, the desire to have someone like him (even if that someone is the greediest and most corrupt producer on Broadway) are all done to perfection by Wilder, as he becomes a willing accomplice to producer Max Bialystock's scheme to put on the worst play in Broadway. Too bad the play ends up being a smash hit, though.

3 Harvey Korman - Blazing Saddles (1974)

Harvey Korman plays Hedy Lamarr (correction, Hedley Lamarr), the main villain of Blazing Saddles. When a new railroad must be diverted to go through the small town of Rock Ridge, Korman's Lamarr schemes to make the townspeople abandon the town so that he can buy the land for cheap. Korman's Lamarr admits at one point in the film that while his henchmen will be risking their lives, he will be risking an almost certain Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Maybe he'd have had more luck if three of the five slots that year weren't claimed by performances from The Godfather, Part II. While Oscar gold may have eluded Korman, comedic gold does not, and that's what Korman finds every second he's onscreen. A fantastic, hilarious performance.

2 Madeline Kahn - Blazing Saddles (1974)

Madeline Kahn plays seductress-for-hire and Marlene Dietrich parody, Lili von Schtupp in Blazing Saddles. Unlike Harvey Korman, Kahn did get an Oscar nomination for her performance in this film for Best Supporting Actress. Kahn's hilarious accent (just listen to the way she pronounces the word "sheriff") and less-than-stellar singing make this performance stand out. Lili von Schtupp is cynical and bored with love and romance... at least until she's sent to seduce Sheriff Bart and spends a night with him, which Kahn makes hilarious and stands out that much more.

1 Gene Wilder - Young Frankenstein (1974)

Gene Wilder's Frankenstein holds his monster's chin — 20th Century Fox

In Young Frankenstein, Gene Wilder plays Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (or should we say, Fronkensteen), grandson of the Dr. Frankenstein who created one of the most iconic monsters in horror movie history. Wilder's Frankenstein wants nothing to do with his grandfather's legacy, but ultimately gives in and continues his grandfather's work, re-animating a corpse of his own. Wilder's performance is wonderful, with mania always bubbling under the surface and always looking for a way out. Every joke, every reaction lands thanks to Wilder's performance. After all, the man has to sell the fact that he taught a re-animated corpse a vaudeville number, and thanks to Wilder's performance, we believe it. An absolutely hilarious performance.