Documentary Reveals Martin Short's Losses and Enduring Joy

Tom Hanks once described his friend Martin Short as operating "at the speed of joy." Short responded, "You know, I don't analyze myself. If that's his review for me, I'll accept it. But I think I do have the happy gene. And I think my orientation is to be happy."

For more than 50 years, Short has brought energy and his signature smile to stages and screens. His sunny attitude stands out more after learning of his private hardships. He is the subject of a new documentary, "Marty: Life Is Short," directed by family friend Lawrence Kasdan and released this week.

Kasdan said Short needed convincing to make the film. "It was not a natural instinct of his to want it; he's not like that," Kasdan said. "I had to sell him on it. I had to lie to him, tell him how much I loved him and I would never hurt him." The film includes hours of home movies featuring Short with friends like Hanks, Kurt Russell and Steven Spielberg.

Short faced major losses early. The youngest of five children, he was 12 when his older brother died in a car accident. Both parents died while he was still a teen.

Short said those events built his resilience. "What it developed in me was this muscle of survival and handling grief and a perspective on it," he said. They also gave him courage for the stage. "I think if you've gone through that, an audience not liking you is really not that important anymore."

In 1977, that boldness took him to Toronto's Second City, where he worked with Eugene Levy, John Candy and Catherine O'Hara, who died in January. The documentary is dedicated to her.

"There was no one more brilliant," Short said of O'Hara. "There was no one sweeter. And there was no one funnier. And she, more than anyone on 'SCTV,' would sit behind the camera and give you suggestions. 'Marty, try that.' 'Oh, okay.' And then you always just did it."

Short's wife of 30 years, Nancy Dolman, died of ovarian cancer in 2010. They met during his Toronto days. "She was funny. She had lots of edge," he said. "It was an equal ping pong match … although Tom Hanks would go up to Nancy, 'Aren't you tired of laughing at his jokes?'"

The film is also dedicated to their daughter Katherine, a social worker who died by suicide in February at age 42.

"It's been a nightmare for the family," Short said. "But the understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like my wife's, are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal. And my daughter fought for a long time with extreme mental health, borderline personality disorder, other things, and did the best she could until she couldn't. So, Nan's last words to me were, 'Martin, let me go.' And what she was just saying [was], 'Dad, let me go.'"

Short has lived in Pacific Palisades, California, since the late 1980s. "I bought this in November of '87," he said. "It was based on two movies that I was gonna make. And the second I signed the mortgage, one movie fell through. And I said to Nancy, 'What do we do? We can't afford this.' And she said, 'Then we'd move?'"

His home survived last year's fires, but his son Oliver's did not. Oliver and his wife now live temporarily in Newport Beach. Short, now 75, questioned his purpose one day but found it with his grandsons. "I'm 75. Why am I continuing? Like, really why? ... And then I got to Newport, and these two grandsons, five and four, just jump, 'Papa! Let's play giant!' And suddenly you go, 'Oh, that's why. That's why. Okay.'"

Short will soon film another season of "Only Murders in the Building." Other projects are in discussion, including a possible Broadway show with Meryl Streep. "We are trying to figure out something; we're just not sure if the box office would be there," he joked. "It's a gamble. You never know how Meryl's gonna do at the box office, but let's hope!"

In the film, Ron Howard asks Short why he keeps pushing. Short replies, "I just think it's important, if you're 'gifted,' to share that gift, of course, with people!"

When his wife fell ill, she urged him to work. "I didn't work as much," he said. "But I remember I was doing 'Damages' at the time. This was the last five months, but I went for a month to shoot, and I remember getting to set, and no one knew. And Glenn [Close] would go, 'Marty's here, yay!!' And I'd go, 'Okay. Let me just go to the dressing room for a second [and compose myself]. ... Okay, then.'"

Work did not ease the pain, but it was necessary. "I don't know if it helped. You know, it didn't help, but you had to do it, you know? I mean, people have to do things in difficult times. And the mark of the man is: Can you do it?"

To get through, Short says, "You head for the light."

"Marty: Life Is Short" streams on Netflix beginning May 12.