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Actor Martin Short can go small, as in the movie Clifford<\/em>, where he played a mischievous 10-year-old. Or he can go big, in a fat suit as Jiminy Glick, the portly entertainment journalist with the outsized appetite and outsized laugh. In fact, Short can do just about anything: sing, dance, sketch comedy, dramatic roles.<\/p>\n\u201cYou can\u2019t learn that,\u201d insists his friend, filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan. \u201cYou\u2019re sort of born with it, like athletic skill, really\u2026 And he\u2019s that way with entertainment. He was born with all the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n
More from Deadline<\/strong><\/p>\nKasdan, the four-time Oscar-nominated writer-director known for The Big Chill<\/em>, Silverado<\/em>, Wyatt Earp<\/em>, The Accidental Tourist<\/em> and more makes a foray into nonfiction filmmaking with Marty, Life Is Short<\/em>, his portrait of the artist who at age 76 has become more popular than ever. Kasdan and Short have been pals for 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n‘Marty, Life Is Short’ poster<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cI wanted people to know what it\u2019s like to hang around with this guy,\u201d the director says of the Emmy-contending Netflix film. \u201cI know a lot of entertaining comedians and actors. They\u2019re a ball to be around, but not forever. But with Marty you could really say, \u2018Will you take a 500-mile car trip with this guy?\u201d and you say, \u2018Yeah.\u2019 That\u2019s what he\u2019s like. And there aren\u2019t a lot of people in showbusiness you would say that about.\u201d<\/p>\n
They first met when Kasdan was producing the 1987 romantic comedy Cross My Heart<\/em>. Kasdan wanted Short for the male lead.<\/p>\n\n\nMartin Short and Lawrence Kasdan attend the Los Angeles premiere of ;Marty, Life Is Short’ at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on May 6, 2026.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cI went to see him and talk him into it, and we just hit it off,\u201d Kasdan recalls. \u201cThe making of [Cross My Heart<\/em>] was a little difficult\u2026 I think it maybe bonded us a little bit because it was a tough situation\u2026 I really just liked hanging around with him. And to this day, he\u2019s just incredibly incisive about things and there\u2019s nothing soft-boiled about him and yet there\u2019s a kindness to him. That\u2019s what sort of drew me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\nA young Martin Short with his older brothers.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The film explores Short\u2019s upbringing in Hamilton, Ontario as the youngest of five children. He gravitated early towards performing and found a readymade and receptive audience in his older siblings and parents. By his teens he could do a spot-on rendition of Frank Sinatra\u2019s vocals. In his early 20s, he landed a part in the 1972 Toronto production of Godspell<\/em> that also featured future stars Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, and Gilda Radner (Short and Radner would become romantically involved for a time).<\/p>\n\n\nMartin Short as Ed Grimley on ‘SCTV’<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Short first came to wider public attention on SCTV<\/em>, where I must say he introduced his Ed Grimley character (another knockout SCTV<\/em> sketch, \u201cThe Battle of the PBS Stars,\u201d pitted Short as Fred Rogers in a boxing match with John Candy\u2019s Julia Child). In the mid-1980s he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live<\/em>, but only spent a year there, finding the grind not to his taste.<\/p>\nShort appeared destined for movie stardom. Along with Cross My Heart<\/em> in 1987, there was Innerspace<\/em> the same year, and a year earlier \u00a1Three Amigos!<\/em> in which he co-starred with Steve Martin and Chevy Chase. But none of those films hit big with audiences, although the latter two have steadily gained fans over time. Through professional ups and downs, Short has maintained remarkable equanimity.<\/p>\n\u201cI would say my career has been 80 percent failure,\u201d Short self-assesses in the documentary. \u201cAnd I think those are pretty good odds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kasdan marvels at Short\u2019s response to setbacks. \u201cThe key word to me is resilience,\u201d he notes. \u201cI think that\u2019s the key to all careers because inevitably you\u2019re going to be disappointed, you\u2019re going to have flops, but how resilient are you? How quickly do you get back up? And people like to say, \u2018Oh, I always get back.\u2019 But they don\u2019t. People don\u2019t always get back up, and you can take it one way or another, and you can be more or less damaged by criticism. And Marty just seems to have this resilience that\u2019s unbelievable. And you see it in his personal life, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\nMartin Short with his wife, Nancy Dolman<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
His personal life has been marked by wrenching loss. When he was 12, his eldest brother David was killed in a car crash. His mother died of cancer when Short was 18; his father passed away two years later. His wife, the singer-actress Nancy Dolman, died of ovarian cancer at the age of 58. Earlier this year, Short\u2019s daughter Katherine took her own life at the age of 42. Marty, Life Is Short<\/em> contains a lot of joy and humor, and not a little heartbreak.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m glad that people react emotionally to it because it is emotional material and he\u2019s a good guy, so you\u2019re really invested in him,\u201d Kasdan observes. \u201cThe thing that amazed me about him, that made me do this, was that spirit that goes through anything. So, it just got more and more poignant as the making of the film went on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\nCatherine O’Hara and Martin Short perform in a sketch.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The documentary is dedicated to Short\u2019s daughter Katherine and to another Catherine \u2013 Catherine O\u2019Hara \u2013 Short\u2019s late friend and SCTV<\/em> co-star. O\u2019Hara is one of the many in Short\u2019s circle who appear in the film \u2014 marquee names like Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Paul Shaffer, John Mulaney, and Steve Martin.<\/p>\nShort, in the guise of Jiminy Glick, has interviewed some of his buddies. The rotund talk show host, chronically ill-prepared for interviews with his celebrity guests, provides an ample vessel for Short\u2019s brilliant wit.<\/p>\n\n\nMartin Short (as Jiminy Glick) interviews Kevin Hart.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cHe does it [instantaneously],\u201d Kasdan says of Jiminy\u2019s hilarious putdowns of the likes of Larry David, Mel Brooks, Bill Hader, Billy Crystal, Kevin Hart, and Steve Martin. (In his sit-down with Steven Spielberg, the director asks Jiminy which of his movies he\u2019s liked the best. \u201cI liked this film you did, Schindler\u2019s Express<\/em>, with Goldie Hawn. I\u2019ve never seen Goldie better.\u201d Spielberg: \u201cSchindler\u2019s List<\/em> was with Liam Neeson.\u201d Jiminy insists, \u201cThis was with Goldie Hawn.\u201d Spielberg adds helpfully, \u201cSugarland Express<\/em>. That\u2019s what Goldie did. That was my first feature film.\u201d Jiminy: \u201cI think you\u2019re wrong here. You\u2019re gonna feel badly later. But I accept your apology.\u201d).<\/p>\nKasdan observes, \u201cAnyone who sees Jiminy marvels at the speed of [his retorts] because he doesn\u2019t know what [his guests] are going to say. He doesn\u2019t know whether they\u2019re going to set him up or not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\nMartin Short, Selena Gomez and Steve Martin in ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 5<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Marty, Life Is Short<\/em> competes for Emmy recognition in the documentary categories, while Short himself is poised to earn yet another Emmy nomination for his role as Oliver Putnam in Only Murders in the Building<\/em>, the Hulu series that co-stars Steve Martin and Selena Gomez. \u00a1Three Amigos!<\/em> 40 years ago might not have taken off as intended, but these three amigos have captivated audiences since their series debuted in 2021. For someone who has patiently weathered the vicissitudes of the business, the show has lifted Short to a new level of success.<\/p>\n\u201cHe hasn\u2019t changed. That\u2019s the amazing part. It\u2019s like it took 50 years for people to get him,\u201d Kasdan comments. \u201cHis audience has gotten bigger\u2026 Over time he\u2019s just aged so well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The director adds, \u201cI love seeing his audience expand. He exploded in recent years, but the natural ascension was always there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Best of Deadline<\/strong><\/p>\nSign up for Deadline’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor Martin Short can go small, as in the movie Clifford, where he played a mischievous 10-year-old. Or he can go big, in a fat suit as Jiminy Glick, the portly entertainment journalist with the outsized appetite and outsized laugh. In fact, Short can do just about anything: sing, dance, sketch comedy, dramatic roles. \u201cYou […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2450460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[364703,477431,472212,470313,22350,305346],"class_list":["post-2450459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-andrea-martin","tag-jiminy-glick","tag-lawrence-kasdan","tag-life-is-short","tag-martin-short","tag-steve-martin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/\u2018Marty-Life-Is-Short-Director-Lawrence-Kasdan-On-His-Buddy.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2450461,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450459\/revisions\/2450461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2450460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}