Mel Brooks names the single greatest actor of all time: “The best that ever lived”
Calling anyone the best at anything has the potential to open a can of worms and ignite a debate that rages into the small hours, but Mel Brooks has his reasons for whittling the ‘greatest actor of all time’ debate down to a solitary name, who he swears is the best to grace film, television, or theatre.
It’s not Marlon Brando, so cross him off the list. He’s typically the first name that comes to mind, and even if you don’t think he’s the finest thespian in the history of stage and screen, it’s hard to see past him as the most influential, bar none, when he’s still being invoked today as the measuring stick for the method.
It isn’t Meryl Streep, either, who often hovers near the top when the conversation switches to the best living actors in Hollywood. Nor is it Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Katharine Hepburn, or any of the other usual suspects. With Brooks rapidly closing in on his centenary, an educated guess would lead some to believe that it was a formative figure from his youth, but that’s wide of the mark, too.
Whenever the Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein creator declares a performer to be the best in their chosen field, they usually peaked before the advent of colour television. That’s fair enough, since he grew up in the 1920s and 1930s, with Sacha Baron Cohen and Seth MacFarlane two of the rare modern-day comedians to earn the EGOT-winning legend’s seal of approval.
Despite his candidate being as biased as it gets, their credentials can’t be faulted. An Academy Award, two-time Golden Globe, two-time Tony, two-time Primetime Emmy, and three-time Bafta-winning legend who became only the 13th name to secure the coveted ‘Triple Crown of Acting’ in 1999 deserves to be remembered as one of the greats, regardless of whether or not they were Brooks’ wife, Anne Bancroft.
“The minute I met Anne, I knew!” the 99-year-old told Jewish News of falling in love at first sight. “She had such joie de vivre, she was the best actress that ever lived, and she whirled me round the dancefloor like I was a feather. Plus, she made great pasta fazool.”
The pair first met in 1961 when they were in rehearsals for Perry Como’s variety show, Kraft Musical. They married three years later and stayed together until her passing at the age of 73 in June 2005. Despite making a living in the same industry and reaching the top of their respective professions, nepotism didn’t quite run rampant in the Brooks/Bancroft household, and they only starred alongside each other in two films: Silent Movie and To Be or Not to Be.
Obviously, Brooks is going to continue to celebrate his late spouse, and he probably wouldn’t consider anyone else for the top spot, but it’s not as if he’s overestimating her talents or giving praise where it isn’t due. After all, in addition to the raft of awards mentioned above, she had plenty more nominations for virtually all of the industry’s biggest prizes.
In total, Bancroft accumulated five Oscar nominations, seven nods apiece from the Baftas and the Emmys, eight from the Golden Globes, three from the Tonys, and won a ‘Best Actress’ gong at the Cannes Film Festival for The Pumpkin Eater. Needless to say, that stacks up against anybody, even if she was married to Brooks for over 40 years and was always going to be the first name to roll off his tongue.
