Movie Musings: Disney and More

Martin Short: Grimmlies and Glickles of Laughter

Ed Grimley, Jiminy Glick, Franck Eggelhoffer: three characters but all brought to life in television and movies by Martin Short. From Saturday Night Live to Broadway/Movies/Television to Video Games, he can always make people laugh. He also has quite a few interesting connections to the Walt Disney Studios, some beyond movies.

Martin Hayter Short was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on March 26th, 1950, the youngest of five siblings. He has three older brothers, David (whom he tragically lost at age 12), Michael, Brian, and one older sister, Nora. His mother, Olive Grace, was a concertmistress of the Hamilton Symphony Orchestra and his father, Charles Patrick Short, was a corporate executive with the Canadian steel company, Stelco. Martin unfortunately lost both his parents  by the age of 20. But despite the tragedy he successfully graduated McMaster University in Hamilton with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work in 1971.

While Martin intended to pursue social work, he became interested in acting the year that he graduated when cast in a touring production of the musical Godspell. His fellow cast members in that production became some of his closest friends, including Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin, and his future wife Nancy Dolman, whom he married on December 22nd, 1980. (Andrea Martin and Martin Short became in-laws when Andrea Martin married Nancy’s brother, Bob Dolman, on December 27th, 1980). Martin Short and his wife also adopted three children together, Katherine, Oliver, and Henry. 

Levy and Thomas both encouraged Short to pursue comedy and join them in the improvisation group The Second City. Along with a group of many other beloved comedians, the group produced the show Second City Television which ran from 1976-1984 in Canada and later the United States. SCTV is where Short developed the character of Ed Grimley. Next up for Short was a U.S. sit-com called The Associates (1979-1980), and then his movie debut in the comedy Lost and Found (1979) and later re-joining his friends for the 10th (’84-’85) season of Saturday Night Live (1975-present), where developed the character of Jiminy Glick. During his run on “SNL” Short befriended the likes of Steve Martin and Chevy Chase, and developed the character of Jiminy Glick. The Martin/Chase friendship led to their collaboration in the comedy Three Amigos! (1986).

Martin Short reunited with Steve Martin in Touchstone’s Father of the Bride (1991) and its sequel Father of the Bride part 2 (1995). (Short’s good friend Eugene Levy also appeared in both of the “Father of the Bride,” movies). Steve Martin and Martin Short also lent their voices to Dreamworks’s animated film The Prince of Egypt (1998) and Steve Martin also appears as himself in Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004). For Touchstone, Martin Short also appeared in the movie Captain Ron (1992), opposite Kurt Russell, who also appears as himself in “Lalawood.” After “Father of the Bride part 2,” he and Eugene Levy created the video Game, Creature Crunch. And for the Disney label, Martin Short acted in the film Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) opposite Tim Allen. Short later reunited with Allen as Jack Frost to Allen’s Santa Clause in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006). He also provided the voices of B.E.N. in Treasure Planet (2002), Lars in the direct-to-video sequel 101 Dalmatians 2: Patch’s London Adventure (2003), Mr. Frankenstein/Mr. Burgermeister/Nassor in Frankenweenie (2012), and Mr. Kurokawa in the English dub of the Disney/Studio Ghibli film The Wind Rises (2013). 

In 2007, Martin Short became the host for the O, Canada! film at the Canada pavilion in Epcot at Walt Disney World. He also stars in the CineMagique theatre show at the Walt Disney Studios park at Disneyland Paris. Prior to “O, Canada!” he hosted a film called “The Making of Me” at the “Wonders of Life,” pavilion in Epcot, (currently closed).

Martin Short made his Broadway debut in 1993, starring opposite Bernadette Peters in the original musical production of The Goodbye Girl (based on the 1977 film of the same name with Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason). It earned him a Tony Award nomination. He won a Tony Award in 1999 for starring in the Broadway revival of the musical Little Me, and four years later, he replaced Matthew Broderick in the original production of Mel Brook’s The Producers opposite Nathan Lane. Brooks had originally offered the part to Short when it opened in 2001, but Short initially declined simply because he did not want to move his family from Los Angeles to New York for a year, but he managed to work it out. In 2006, he created a one-man show, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, which ran on Broadway for a year. Most recently, he starred in NBC’s live-televised adaptation of the Broadway musical Hairspray Live! (2017) playing the role of Wilbur Turnblad.

Martin Short lost his wife, Nancy Dolman, of 30 years, to ovarian cancer, on August 21st, 2010. As a result o, he has been an activist for the Woman’s Cancer Research Fund, in 2011, received a “Courage Award” for his efforts. 

Despite suffering many tragedies in his life, Martin Short has become one of the funniest comedians of his generation. He will be forever remembered for creating the characters of Ed Grimley and Jiminy Glick, but beyond those roles he has been fortunate enough to make audiences laugh in every medium of entertainment for more than 40 years.