Martin Short

Martin Hayter Short, CM (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian actor, writer, and producer best known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live.

Martin Short is a master of impersonation and personification and has created over the years many memorable characters, most notably Jiminy Glick, Franck, the Wedding Consultant, ancient songwriter Irving Cohen, spurious entertainer Jackie Rogers Jr., fey current-events commentator Troy Soren, industrialist and art patron Bradley P. Allen, nervous attorney Nathan Thurm, and man-child Ed Grimley.

He was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and went to Westdale Secondary School. He later attended McMaster University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work in 1972. Short was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 1994. He won the prestigious Tony Award in the category Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 1999 for his work in Little Me. He is Roman Catholic of Irish descent, but often incorrectly identified as Jewish.

He is currently performing in a satirical one-man show (with a full cast of six), Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway. The show began previews on July 29th, 2006 and opened on August 17th. In it, he performs his aforementioned classic characters Grimley, Cohen, and Glick. The show also features parodies of many celebrities including Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Tommy Tune, Joan Rivers, Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, Renee Zellweger, Jodie Foster and Short's wife, actress Nancy Dolman.

The August 17th, 2006 red carpet event that accompanied Short's opening night (as well as the opening night party that followed the performance at Tavern on the Green) was attended by: Short and Dolman, cast members Marc Shaiman, Mary Birdsong, Nicole Parker, Brooks Ashmanskas and Capathia Jenkins, writer Scott Wittman, Lauren Bacall, Phyllis Newman, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, Nathan Lane, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, Kathleen Marshall, Alec Baldwin, Billy Crystal and Janice Crystal, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Jayni Luke, Jerry Seinfeld and Jessica Sklar, Andrea Martin, Paul Shaffer and Cathy Vasapoli, Larry David and Laurie David, Harry Smith, James Marsden, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Allyson Tucker, Eugene Levy, Christine Ebersole, Jason Sudeikis, Chris Elliott, Craig Bierko, Jerry Mitchell, Matthew Morrison, Michael Feinstein, Kristen Johnston, Sara Gettelfinger and others. 

Family
His father was Charles Short, an executive with Canada's largest steel company, who came to North America as a stowaway Roman Catholic refugee from Belfast, Northern Ireland during the Troubles at age 21.

His mother, Olive, was concertmaster of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra; she was the first female concertmaster in North America. A cousin, Clare Short, is a member of the British Parliament. Short is the youngest of five children. His brother, Michael Short, is a comedy writer and a two-time Emmy Award winner. His brother Brian is vice president of Dover Industries in Canada, and his sister Nora is an anesthesiologist. His brother David was killed in a car accident in 1962.

He married Canadian comic actress Nancy Dolman in 1980, after meeting her during the run of the 1972 production of Godspell in Toronto, which also starred Victor Garber, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas and Andrea Martin, with Paul Shaffer as musical director. Dolman was Gilda Radner's understudy. Short dated Radner first, then began dating Dolman in 1974. Nancy Dolman is most notable for her recurring role on the ABC cult sitcom "Soap", SCTV and "Custard Pie". She also appeared in Short's critically acclaimed 1985 cable television special Martin Short: Concert for the North Americas. Ms. Dolman holds a Bachelor's degree in philosophy from The University of Western Ontario. She retired from show business in 1985 to be a homemaker and full-time mother to her children. Short and Dolman enjoy a vacation home in the affluent Ontario area of Muskoka Lake, as do friends Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, and Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw.

Dolman's brother, screenwriter/director Bob Dolman (who served as a part of SCTV's Emmy-winning writing team alongside Short), married their close friend and colleague Andrea Martin, also in 1980. Dolman and Short are aunt and uncle to the couple's two sons, Jack (born 1981) and Joe (born 1983). Bob Dolman and Andrea Martin have since divorced. 

Martin Short and Nancy Dolman live in Pacific Palisades, California, and Short has become a naturalized U.S. citizen (but also maintains his Canadian citizenship).

Short and Dolman have three children:


 * Katherine Elizabeth (born December 3rd, 1983)
 * Oliver Patrick (born 1986)
 * Henry (born 1990)

Katherine Short currently attends New York University.  In 2003, she was chosen to serve as Queen Shenandoah LXXVI for the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. She is an aspiring actress. 

Oliver Short currently attends The University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business for marketing and film, television and theatre. He is an aspiring director/producer.

Filmography

 * 1972 David Steinberg Show TV series
 * 1972 Right On TV series
 * 1972 Cucumber TV series
 * 1976 SCTV TV series
 * 1978 Cementhead
 * 1979 Lost and Found
 * 1979 The Associates TV series
 * 1979 The Family Man
 * 1980 I'm a Big Girl Now TV series
 * 1982 Miss Peach of the Kelly School TV series (voice)
 * 1983 Sunset Limousine
 * 1984 Saturday Night Live TV series
 * 1985 Martin Short Concert for the North Americas
 * 1986 Three Amigos!
 * 1987 Really Weird Tales
 * 1987 Innerspace
 * 1987 Cross My Heart
 * 1988 The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley TV series (voice)
 * 1989 The Big Picture
 * 1989 Three Fugitives
 * 1989 The Making of Me
 * 1989 I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood
 * 1989 Andrea Martin... Together Again
 * 1991 Pure Luck
 * 1991 Father of the Bride
 * 1992 Captain Ron
 * 1993 Money for Nothing
 * 1993 We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (voice)
 * 1993 Friends of Gilda (As Himself)
 * 1994 Clifford
 * 1994 The Martin Short Show TV series
 * 1995 The Pebble and the Penguin (voice)
 * 1995 Father of the Bride Part II
 * 1996 Mars Attacks!
 * 1996 Creature Crunch
 * 1997 Jungle 2 Jungle
 * 1997 A Simple Wish
 * 1998 Merlin
 * 1998 The Prince of Egypt (voice)
 * 1998 Akbar's Adventure Tours
 * 1999 Alice in Wonderland
 * 1999 Mumford
 * 2001 Get Over It
 * 2001 Primetime Glick TV series
 * 2001 Prince Charming
 * 2001 Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (voice)
 * 2002 Treasure Planet (voice)
 * 2002 Cinemagique
 * 2003 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (voice)
 * 2005 Jiminy Glick in La La Wood
 * 2006 The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

Writer - Filmography

 * 1981 SCTV Network 90 TV series
 * 1983 SCTV Channel TV series
 * 1984 Saturday Night Live
 * 1985 Martin Short Concert for the North Americas
 * 1988 The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley TV series
 * 1989 I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood
 * 1994 The Martin Short Show TV series
 * 1999 The Martin Short Show TV series
 * 2001 Primetime Glick TV series
 * 2005 Jiminy Glick in La La Wood

Producer - Filmography

 * 1994 The Martin Short Show TV series (Executive producer)
 * 1999 The Martin Short Show TV series (Executive producer)
 * 2001 Primetime Glick TV series (Executive producer) (Producer)
 * 2005 Jiminy Glick in La La Wood (Producer)

Director - Filmography

 * 1993 Friends of Gilda

Awards

 * 1982: Emmy Award: Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program, SCTV Comedy Network; award shared
 * 1982: Nelly Award: Outstanding Writing, SCTV Comedy Network
 * 1993: Outer Critics Circle Award: Outstanding Actor in a Musical, The Goodbye Girl
 * 1993: Theater World Award
 * 1999: Outer Critics Circle Award: Outstanding Actor in a Musical, Little Me
 * 1999: Tony Award: Actor in a Musical, Little Me

Trivia

 * Celebrities impersonated by Short on SCTV include: Katharine Hepburn, Pierre Trudeau, Jerry Lewis, Dustin Hoffman, David Steinberg, Robin Williams, Fred Rogers, Ambassador Ken Taylor, Pee Wee Reese, Deliverance banjo-boy Hoyt Pollard, Jamie Farr, Scott Baio, Denny Terrio, Howie Mandel, Howie Meeker, Tony Sandler (of Sandler and Young), Tom Hayden, Gore Vidal and Brian Linehan.
 * Short is an enormous fan of Jerry Lewis and has spent years perfecting two impressions of him, "Young Jerry" and "Older Jerry".

Quotes

 * As Irving Cohen: "What hell kind of name is Roy!?"
 * As Irving Cohen: "Give me a C, a bouncy C."
 * As Irving Cohen (as his standard conclusion to an improvised song, of which he's sung a few bars, accompanied by replacing his cigar in his mouth): "...a dot dot dot, dee dee dee, and whatever the hell else you want to put in there."
 * As Ed Grimley:  "I must say...".
 * As Ed Grimley (clutching his burning fingers after removing a batch of cookies from the oven without using an oven mitt): "That's a pain that will tend to linger."
 * As Bradley Allen: "''You can't tell me that a woman who plays the tuba doesn't have a boyfriend somewhere... I mean who's going to carry the damn thing?"
 * As Bradley Allen (drinking Scotch and declining tissues after a productive cough): "No, I got it."
 * As Franck Eggelhoffer..."Everybody has party with a pooper, that's why we invited you, party pooper, GEORGE BANKS! That's who!"