Sometimes the best love stories do not start with grand gestures or perfect timing. They start with a summer day, a pair of short shorts, and a hotel lobby that made everyone laugh.
Martin Short was doing a play in the summer of 1972 when Nancy Dolman walked in. He already knew who she was. They had met during a Toronto production of “Godspell” that same year.
Both were coming out of breakups. Neither was looking for anything serious. Then came the summer. And everything changed.
Short is now telling that story for all of us. His new Netflix documentary, “Marty, Life Is Short“ directed by family friend Lawrence Kasdan, premieres May 12 and serves as a warm, loving window into a life well lived and a marriage that touched everyone near it.
The Summer of 1972: How Martin Short Knew Nancy Dolman Was the One
Short has told this story before. He will probably tell it again. It never gets old. “I was doing a play, and Nancy came, it was the summer,” he said while filming his Netflix documentary, per Entertainment Weekly.
“And she was wearing short shorts and a halter top. And I was wearing short shorts and a T-shirt. And we went to the Four Seasons Hotel, and I said to the guy, ‘My wife and I would like a room, please.’ And even he started laughing because we looked about 12. And that was it. That was it.”
They married eight years later and spent the rest of their lives together until Dolman’s death in 2010.
A Love Story That Moved Everyone Who Witnessed It
Vintage photos and home videos fill the film. So do the voices of the friends who watched it all unfold.
Catherine O’Hara was one of those friends. And what she shared in the documentary is quietly remarkable.
“My husband and I went through a little rough patch, and we went to therapy,” O’Hara said.
“And one of the questions she was, ‘Do you have friends, do you know a couple whose relationship you would love to have or you’d love to emulate?’ We said, ‘Oh, we have these friends Marty and Nancy.’ And she said, ‘I can’t tell you how many people have named them when I’ve asked this question.’”
‘Tell That Story Again’: Steve Martin on What Made Their Bond So Special
“Only Murders in the Building” co-star Steve Martin remembered their dynamic with a smile.
It was not something you could manufacture. It was just real.
“She thought everything he said was hilarious,” Martin said, as per EW. “And it was a sincere laughter. It wasn’t like a wife doing it. It was like a person laughing. You know, ‘Tell that story again.’”
The woman Short had once called “drop-dead beautiful” with a Joni Mitchell look became his wife in 1980.
Together, they built a family and raised three children, including their late daughter Katherine.
‘I Can Fight It’: Nancy Dolman’s Grace in Her Final Chapter
No love story is complete without its hardest moments. This documentary does not pretend otherwise.
In 2007, Dolman began to suspect something was wrong. What she thought was a hernia turned out to be an ovarian cyst. She was later diagnosed with ovarian cancer and passed away in 2010.
Short remembers how she handled it the same way he remembers how she handled everything. With grace and with fight.
“She tended to be positive in general,” he said. “So when she got sick, her approach was, ‘I can fight it.’”
Through every treatment, she stayed hopeful. She told those closest to her that each new round of chemotherapy or medication made her feel cured. She drew her own boundaries, too.
“She went to the internet once,” Short said, “read about it, and said, ‘I’m not gonna do that anymore.’”
Watch Martin Short's life up close and personal, filled with real moments of joy, grief and love. "Marty, Life Is Short" premieres May 12 on Netflix.
The post Martin Short Reveals the Adorable Meet-Cute Behind His Love Story With Nancy Dolman— ‘That Was It. That Was It.’ appeared first on EntertainmentNow.