Catherine O’Hara Opened Up Before Her Death About a ‘Rough Patch’ in Her Marriage and How Martin Short Helped Mend It
Catherine O’Hara Opened Up Before Her Death About a ‘Rough Patch’ in Her Marriage and How Martin Short Helped Mend It
Lizzie HymanWed, May 13, 2026 at 9:16 PM UTC
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Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara in 'Marty, Life Is Short'.
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
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Before her death in January, Catherine O'Hara reflected on how Martin Short and his late wife, Nancy Dolman, inspired her during a difficult period in her own marriage
O’Hara said a therapist asked her to name a couple she admired, and her response was "Oh, we have these friends, Marty and Nancy”
Marty, Life Is Short is now streaming on Netflix
Catherine O’Hara depended on Martin Short not just as a friend but as an inspiration for her marriage.
Before her death in January at age 72, the actress opened up in an interview for the new Netflix documentary Marty, Life Is Short about how Short, 76, and his late wife, Nancy Dolman, helped keep her marriage alive.
“Marty and Nancy. What a team, eh?” O’Hara says of Short and Dolman, who died of ovarian cancer in 2010 at age 58. “I keep saying they’re an amazing team, but they really were.”
While discussing her own marriage to Bo Welch — whom she wed in 1992 — O’Hara continues, “My husband and I went through a rough patch, and we went to therapy, and one of the questions she asked is, ‘Do you know a couple whose relationship you would love to have, or you’d love to emulate?’ And we said, ‘Oh, we have these friends, Marty and Nancy.’ ”
From left: Bo Welch, Catherine O'Hara, Nancy Dolman and Martin Short in 2007.
Credit: E. Charbonneau/WireImage
To O’Hara’s surprise, the therapist responded: “I can’t tell you how many people have named them.”
O'Hara longstanding friendship with Short dated back to their days as SCTV costars in the early '80s, and she was also deeply fond of Dolman. “She had such loving authority,” O’Hara says in the documentary, which is dedicated to O'Hara and Short’s daughter, Katherine, who died by suicide at age 46 in February.
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Short and Dolman met during a 1972 Toronto production of Godspell. At the time, Dolman was the understudy for future SNL star Gilda Radner, whom Short briefly dated during the production. (Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1989 at age 42.)
Martin Short and Nancy Dolman in 2005.
Credit: E. Charbonneau/WireImage
It didn’t take long for Short and Dolman’s friendship to turn romantic. The pair married in 1980 and went on to adopt three children: Katherine in 1983, Oliver in 1986 and Henry in 1989. “She thought everything he said was hilarious,” Steve Martin says of Dolman and Short. Andrea Martin adds, “She was his biggest fan.”
After Dolman’s death from ovarian cancer in 2010, Short’s closest friends witnessed the impact of the loss. “I couldn’t imagine Marty without Nancy,” their longtime pal Steven Spielberg says.
O’Hara adds, “He handled it with a sense of humor, looked for the laughs. I hope you’re telling everyone how important laughter is.”
Marty, Life Is Short is now streaming on Netflix.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
