Yet another documentary about a Saturday Night Live alum is coming to screens this week. Marty, Life Is Short debuts on Netflix on Tuesday, May 12, in an examination of the fruitful career of former SNL cast member Martin Short.
In the last year, Short has experienced tragedy on many fronts. In February his 42-year old daughter Katherine committed suicide. Last December, two of Short’s closest friends, Rob and Michelle Reiner were found murdered in their Los Angeles area home after leaving a party that Short also attended. In January, actress and comedian Catherine O’Hara, one of Short’s close friends, passed. Each of these incidents is mentioned in the film, which was directed and produced by Lawrence Kasdan.
Kasdan has a noteworthy history in the industry. He co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. He also wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark, and directed films like The Big Chill and The Accidental Tourist.
Marty: Life is Short is the first documentary for Kasdan. It examines the long, distinguished career of a man who is sort of a throwback to an era when performers filled the screen and stage with strong personality. Short is universally beloved and respected for a career that spans more than 50 years.
The documentary is built on a foundation of footage filmed by Short while he was working on projects, dating back to the 1970s. We see members of the Second City comedy group, and intimate scenes taken at family gatherings and with Short’s friends and colleagues over the decades.
Featured in the doc are interviews with Short, Eugene Levy, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, and others.
In 1984, Short joined Saturday Night Live for Season 10, adding his name to an “All-Star” cast that included Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer. It was the final season when SNL co-creator Lorne Michaels was away from the show. Short brought some of his established characters from his time on SCTV, including the hyperactive Ed Grimley, who flits around his apartment with a flourish and adores Pat Sajak.
A formative career turning point was when Short was cast for Three Amigos alongside Martin and Chevy Chase, a film produced by Michaels. The friendship forged between Short and Martin on the set turned into a lifelong relationship and eventual partnership on several projects.
Though he didn’t become a well-known celebrity until he was in his mid-30s in the 1980s, Short worked with many of the people who helped form the comic revolution that was funneled through SNL and many movies of the 1970s and 1980s, and beyond. A Canadian like Michaels, Short dated original SNL cast member Gilda Radner in the early 1970s when the two were on the cast of Godspell in Toronto. He came up in the same sketch and improv circles as Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, John Candy, O’Hara, Levy, and many others.
Short won his first Emmy Award as part of the SCTV television series in 1983. He later won a second Emmy for his appearance in a Mel Brooks TV special. He has won two Actor Awards for Only Murders in the Building, a series he stars in with Martin and Selena Gomez.
In recent years, Short has been linked to Meryl Streep, whom he is reportedly dating. His wife of 30 years, actress Nancy Dolman, died of cancer in 2010. It was their adopted daughter Katherine who took her own life earlier this year after struggling with mental health issues for some time, according to an interview with Short conducted by Tracy Smith on CBS Sunday Morning.
The Short documentary follows several films about SNL and alums, including a movie that focuses on Lorne Michaels (released earlier this spring), Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, writer Jim Downey, and Martin (2024).
