Martin Short recently reflected on his brother, mom, and dad all dying by the time he was 21.
On Thursday, May 7, Short, 76, participated in a panel at the Netflix Is a Joke Presents: This Better Be Funny with David Letterman event in Los Angeles. The Father of the Bride actor appeared with David Letterman, 79, and Paul Shaffer ,76, at The Montalbán Theater.
During their conversation, Letterman mentioned Short’s upcoming documentary film, Marty, Life Is Short. “One thing that struck me was your childhood,” the former late-night host pointed out, per People. “You came from a funny Irish Catholic family, and then suddenly, your brother died in a car accident. And then your mother got cancer. And then your father died. That’s an incredible amount of loss very early.”
Short was 12 when his brother died; by the time he lost his mother and father, he was just 20.
“My older brother, David, died first. He was the star of the family,” Short explained. “Then my mother was diagnosed with cancer at his funeral and died three years later. My father died the year after that.”
The Santa Clause 3 star continued, “So there was definitely a period where life changed completely.”
Much earlier in Short’s career — more than 40 years ago — he admitted to People, “There isn’t a period of my life that I don’t like to think about or wouldn’t go back to. It sounds like a tragic family, but it really isn’t.” He also recalled that his mother had been sick and then in remission since he was 13, calling her a “remarkable person,” before adding, “both my parents were.”
“So I never looked at it as if it was a tragedy — that I didn’t have them my whole life,” he explained. “You learn some sense of priorities. Our whole family took the attitude that if you have wonderful moments, don’t second-guess them, just enjoy them.”
In addition to losing his parents and brother at a young age, Short experienced great loss later in life. His wife, actress Nancy Dolman, died in 2010 following a battle with ovarian cancer. Most recently, their daughter, Katherine Hartley Short, died by suicide at 42 in February 2026. Their other two children, Oliver, 40, and Henry, 36, survive.
Marty, Life Is Short, releases on May 12 on Netflix
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Originally published on tvinsider.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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