Martin Short

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Martin Short
Birth name Martin Hayter Short
Born March 26, 1950
Hamilton, Ontario
Spouse(s) Nancy Dolman (1980-present)
Notable roles Various in SCTV and Saturday Night Live
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program
1983 SCTV Network 90
Tony Awards
Best Actor in a Musical
1999 Little Me

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

Contents

[edit] Early life

The youngest of five children, Short was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to Charles and Olive Short. His father, an executive with Stelco,[1] a Canadian steel company, came to North America in 1921 as a stowaway Roman Catholic refugee from Belfast, Northern Ireland during the Troubles.[citation needed] His mother, who was the concertmaster of the Hamilton Symphony Orchestra, encouraged his early creative endeavours.[2]

Short attended Westdale Secondary School[3] and graduated in 1972 from McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work.

Short lost several members of his family at an early age. His eldest brother, David, was killed in a car accident in 1962, when Short was 12. His mother died of cancer when he was 17; two years later, his father died of complications from a stroke in 1972.[4]

[edit] Career

When Short graduated from McMaster University, he intended to pursue a career in social work; but he became interested in acting once he was cast in a Toronto production of Godspell in 1972 (among the other members of that production's cast: Victor Garber, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas and Andrea Martin, with Paul Shaffer as musical director.) He was subsequently cast in several television shows and plays, including an intense topical drama, "Fortune and Men's Eyes". (He worked solely in Canada from 1972 through 1979.)

[edit] Sketch comedy

Short was encouraged to pursue comedy by McMasters classmates Eugene Levy and Dave Thomas, both notable comedians in their own right. He joined Levy and Thomas at the Second City improv troupe in 1977. Short came to public notice when the troupe produced a show for television, which ran for several years in Canada and the United States. Short was a cast member and performed several recurring characters. He was a member of the troupe for several years, and also performed on Saturday Night Live for the 1984-1985 season. [1]

[edit] Characters

Among Short's recurring characters:

  • Talk show host Jiminy Glick
  • Aged songwriter Irving Cohen
  • Spurious entertainer Jackie Rogers Jr.
  • Fey and flamboyant current-events commentator Troy Soren
  • Industrialist and art patron Bradley P. Allen
  • Defensive attorney Nathan Thurm
  • Oddball man-child Ed Grimley.

The Grimley character became perhaps Short's best known original character. He also was recognized for his impersonations of celebrities, notably Jerry Lewis and Katharine Hepburn. (See "Trivia" below for a list of other impersonations.)

[edit] Other roles

After doing sketch comedy for several years, Short focused on film roles, appearing in several films, including Three Amigos, Innerspace, and the 1992 remake of Father of the Bride. He also resumed work in the theater, taking a role in the 1993 musical version of the Neil Simon work The Goodbye Girl. He had the lead role in the 1999 revival of the musical Little Me, which earned him a Tony Award.

[edit] Fame Becomes Me

Short performed 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 toured several cities in the spring of 2006, began previews on July 29, 2006, opened on August 17 and closed on January 7, 2007. In it, he performed his aforementioned classic characters Grimley, Cohen, and Glick. As Glick, Short brought a member of the audience (usually a celebrity) on stage and interviews him or her. Jerry Seinfeld was the guest on opening night and the subjects have included Kristin Chenoweth, Regis Philbin, Neil Simon, Diane Keaton, Jamie Lee Curtis, Richard Kind, David Schwimmer, David Hasselhoff and many more. The show also featured parodies of many celebrities including Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Celine Dion, Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Tommy Tune, Joan Rivers, Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, Renée Zellweger, Jodie Foster and Short's wife, actress Nancy Dolman.

The cast album release date is set for Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 and will be available off of Ghostlight Records (www.sh-k-boom.com).

[edit] Awards and other recognition

For his work, Short has received recognition, including several prestigious awards:


Preceded by
Alan Cumming
for Cabaret		 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical
1999
for Little Me		 Succeeded by
Brian Stokes Mitchell
for Kiss Me, Kate

[edit] Personal life

Short met Canadian comic actress Nancy Dolman during the run of the 1972 production of Godspell. After that production, Short dated costar Radner, then began dating Dolman (Radner's understudy) in 1974. The couple married in 1980. Dolman was most notable for her recurring role on the ABC cult sitcom "Soap", SCTV, and "Custard Pie".

Dolman retired from show business in 1985 to be a homemaker.[citation needed] Short and Dolman have three children: Katherine Elizabeth (born December 3, 1983), Oliver Patrick (born 1986), and Henry (born 1990). Short and his family make their home in Pacific Palisades, California, and Short has become a naturalized U.S. citizen (but also maintains his Canadian citizenship).[citation needed] They also have a home on Lake Muskoka[5] in Ontario, Canada.

Short, a Roman Catholic, is often incorrectly identified as Jewish.[2] His brother, Michael Short, is a comedy writer and a two-time Emmy Award winner.

[edit] Extended family

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. [2]

Also, Short is the first cousin of Clare Short, a member of the British Parliament and a former British cabinet minister.


[edit] Filmography

[edit] 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

appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm - HBO

[edit] Producer - Filmography

[edit] Director - Filmography

  • 1993 Friends of Gilda

[edit] Trivia

[edit] References

  1. ^ Olivia Stren, "Laugh Track," torontolife.com, June 2006.
  2. ^ a b Amy Lennard Goehner, "10 Questions For Martin Short," Time, August 6, 2006.
  3. ^ Carmela Fragomeni, "Westdale grads found stardom," The Hamilton Spectator, Feb. 24, 2006
  4. ^ Fame Becomes Martin Short," The Showbuzz (CBS News), Sept. 17, 2006.
  5. ^ Denny Lee, "Muskoka: The Malibu of the North," The New York Times, Sept. 16, 2005.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../m/a/r/Martin_Short_e71b.html"
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