Martin Short Supported by Loved Ones After Tragedy

The couple had been.

Following Dolman's passing, Short's longtime comedy partner Steve Martin paid tribute to her with a musical elegy titled The Great Remember (For Nancy), which appeared on one of his albums. 

Speaking in 2019 about Nancy, Short described his marriage to the actress as a 'triumph'. 

He admitted and still feels her presence around him.

In an interview with AARP magazine, he said: 'With real tragedy, you become a little more daring. It's the yin to the yang: the positive part of life's dark side.' 

Short also previously told CBC his attitude to grief is: 'We go on.'

In his memoir, released in 2014, he described Nancy's death as 'by far the most awful thing I've been through'.

And as he supported his children through the grief of losing their mother, Short drew from his own experiences.

Speaking to his youngest son Henry the night before Nancy died, he told him: 'This will make you stronger. This will make you more determined.'

As Short and his children continue 14 years following his spouse's passing, the actor has previously revealed the George Eliot quote that he holds dear when thinking about her.

'Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them,' he told The Hollywood Reporter in an August 2024 interview.

He added, 'We were together for 36 years. I didn't want to forget Nancy.'

Short, who is originally from Hamilton, Canada, was orphaned at the young age of 20 and has suffered further loss in his adult life, too.

Despite experiencing more grief than many have in a lifetime by adolescence, Short has recently insisted he isn't 'screwed up' by the tragedy that beset his earlier years; instead, he argued that it made him stronger.