Martin Scorsese Presents Mel Brooks' AFI Lifetime Achievement Award Tonight

The American Film Institute will honor Mel Brooks with the 41st AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest accolade for a career in film. The award will be presented to Brooks at a gala tribute tonight, June 6, 2013 in Los Angeles, CA.

The event will air on June 15 on TNT, followed by another airing on TCM on July 24. "For over 50 years, Mel Brooks has given the world its greatest gift - laughter," Howard Stringer, the AFI's Board of Trustees chair, said today. "At the American Film Institute, we also want to shine a proper light on his contributions to the art form as writer, producer, director and actor - and who better to bestow this honor than one of the masters of American film, Martin Scorsese."

Reflecting his range of mastery in the entertainment arts - from writing, directing and producing to acting and composing - Brooks (Broadway's The Producers, Young Frankenstein) is only one of 14 people who have won the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award. Brooks is best known for his comedy films including THE PRODUCERS (1968), BLAZING SADDLES (1974), YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974), SILENT MOVIE (1976), HIGH ANXIETY (1977), HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1 (1981), TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1983), SPACEBALLS (1987), LIFE STINKS (1991), ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS (1993) and DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT (1995) - and he was also executive producer on the Academy Award-winning THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980). His films have been recognized by the American Film Institute as among the funniest American movies of all time, with three films in the top 15 of AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list: BLAZING SADDLES at #6, THE PRODUCERS at #11 and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN at #13.

Sponsors of the 2013 AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Mel Brooks include HP, Deloitte and American Airlines, the official airline of the American Film Institute.

The highest honor given for a career in film, the AFI Life Achievement Award was established by the AFI Board of Trustees on February 26, 1973. It is presented to a single honoree each year based on The Following criteria as mandated through a resolution passed by the AFI Board of Trustees:

"The recipient should be one whose talent has in a fundamental way advanced the film art; whose accomplishment has been acknowledged by scholars, critics, professional peers and the general public; and whose work has stood the test of time."