Quiz

Discovered Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, which resulted in their movie Un colpo da dilettanti (1996).

He is among an elite group of six directors who have won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Original/Adapted) Oscars for the same film. In 1984 he won all three for Voglia di tenerezza (1983). The other directors are Billy Wilder (for L'appartamento (1960)), Francis Ford Coppola (for Il padrino - Parte II (1974)), Peter Jackson (for Il Signore degli Anelli - Il ritorno del re (2003)), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (the brothers co-produced, co-directed and co-wrote Non è un paese per vecchi (2007) with each other), and Alejandro G. Iñárritu (for Birdman o (L'imprevedibile virtù dell'ignoranza) (2014)). Brooks is the only one to do so with his directorial debut and the only one to do so without collaborators in any of the three categories.

Has won 21 Prime Time Emmy awards--more than any person in history. As executive producer he has won 11 for I Simpson (1989), three for Taxi (1978), three for Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) and one for The Tracey Ullman Show (1987); as writer he won two for Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) and one for The Tracey Ullman Show (1987).

He has directed one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Dentro la notizia (1987).

Owns Gracie Films, which produces I Simpson (1989).

His laughter is heard in the studio audience of many shows he produced, especially Taxi (1978), in which his laughter is heard through all five seasons. It appears louder than any of the other audience members, sounding like a "Haw", sustaining the "Aw" sound.

Directed nine Oscar-nominated performances: Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Debra Winger, John Lithgow, Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear. Nicholson, MacLaine and Hunt won Oscars for their performances in one of Brooks' movies (Nicholson twice).

Along with Delbert Mann, Jerome Robbins, Robert Redford, Kevin Costner and Sam Mendes, he is one of only six people to win the Academy Award for Best Director for their directorial debut: Mann for Marty - Vita di un timido (1955), Robbins for West Side Story (1961) (which he co-directed with Robert Wise, Redford for Gente comune (1980), Brooks for Voglia di tenerezza (1983), Costner for Balla coi lupi (1990) and Mendes for American Beauty (1999).

He was commissioned to do a screen adaptation of Voglia di tenerezza (1983) by wealthy businessman Norton Simon and his wife, the former actress Jennifer Jones, as a comeback vehicle for her. Brooks decided he didn't want to have to adapt the character of Aurora to a particular actress, and persuaded Paramount to buy the rights from the Simons. He cast Shirley MacLaine because she was the only actress who viewed the story as a comedy. When he won the screenplay Oscar, Brooks thanked Jennifer Jones Simon.

He has directed three films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Voglia di tenerezza (1983), Dentro la notizia (1987) and Qualcosa è cambiato (1997). Terms of Endearment won in the category. He also produced all three of those, as well as the Best Picture nominee Jerry Maguire (1996).

During the opening credits for some of the seasons of Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), there is a scene of Mary by the one of the lakes in Minneapolis. During that scene, two men jog by--one of them is Brooks.

Has been a member of of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Writers Branch) since 2006.

Father, with Holly Holmberg Brooks, of Chloe Brooks, Cooper Brooks, & Joey Brooks.

Father, with Marianne Catherine Morrissey, of Amy Brooks (b. 1971).

Was best man at Norman Pearlstine's and Nancy Friday's wedding.

He was nominated for the 2025 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Performing Arts and Entertainment category.