The Canadian-American comedian, actor, and writer Martin Short was married to Nancy Dolman, the late Canadian actress and singer. The couple married in 1980 and adopted three children. At the age of 58, Dolman passed away in Pacific Palisades, California, on August 21, 2010, from ovarian cancer.
Canadian comedian and singer Nancy Jane Dolman Short was a regular on the ABC sitcom Soap as Annie Selig Tate. She made an appearance in Martin Short: Concert for the North Americas, her husband's 1985 cable television show.
Martin Short’s wife
Martin Short was married to the late Canadian actress and comedian, Nancy Dolman in 1980. The couple adopted three children together: Katherine Elizabeth, Oliver Patrick, and Henry Hayter.
Nancy Dolman was born in Toronto. There isn’t much known about her parents or family except for her brother, Bob Dolman, who is a director. She was Gilda Radner's understudy. Dolman received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Western Ontario and went to York Mills Collegiate Institute in Toronto for his secondary school education. In the early 1970s, Dolman performed in the Canadian Rock Theatre's production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which traveled to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, the ensemble recorded an album at MGM. In 1972, Martin met actress Nancy Dolman at a Godspell performance in Toronto, and the two fell in love. Nancy had a great career on stage long before she met Martin, and during their relationship, she was cast in the ABC sitcom Soap (1977–1981).
In 1985, she left the entertainment industry to devote herself to raising her kids full-time. The February 1987 issue of Vogue featured a profile of the couple. The family settled in California's Pacific Palisades. They kept a vacation house on Ontario's Lake Rosseau. At the age of 58, Dolman died in Pacific Palisades, California, on August 21, 2010, from ovarian cancer. She died from natural causes, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner. Dolman's body was cremated, and her ashes were dumped into the waters of Lake Rosseau in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, from the pier of the Short family cabin.
Following Dolman's death, Steve Martin, a personal friend of both Short and Dolman, dedicated a musical elegy for her called "The Great Remember (For Nancy)" on his joint CD Rare Bird Alert with the Steep Canyon Rangers.
Martin rarely addresses his personal life with his kids, but after Nancy died, the actor thought about how hard it had been for them to lose their mother. He said, "It's been a tough two years for my children," to The Guardian. "This is the thing of life that we live in denial about, that it will ever happen to us or our loved ones, and when it does you gain a little and you suffer a little. There's no big surprise."
Read more: Martin Short's Family
FAQs about Martin Short
A. Martin Short’s wife, Nancy Dolman, died of ovarian cancer at the age of 58.
A. No, Martin Short doesn’t have any biological children. He and his late wife adopted three children: Katherine Elizabeth, Oliver Patrick and Henry Hayter.
A. No, Martin Short never remarried after losing his wife to cancer.
