The “Beetlejuice” actress, who died in January, had worked with Short for decades.

Catherine O’Hara’s posthumous role in Martin Short doc celebrates their friendship

The "Beetlejuice" actress, who died in January, had worked with Short for decades.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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May 1, 2026 2:49 p.m. ET

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Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short in 2017. Credit:

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

- Catherine O'Hara is featured in the trailer for an upcoming documentary about Martin Short, called *Marty, Life Is Short*.

- O'Hara, who died in January, worked with Short for decades on projects such as *SCTV*.

- After the *Best in Show* actress' death, Short called her the "sweetest angel."

It just makes sense that the late Catherine O’Hara would be part of a documentary about Martin Short.

They had known each other for decades, with O'Hara recalling seeing Short in the Toronto production of *Godspell *when she was a teenager. ("I took the program home, and I remember kissing his picture because I thought he was so adorable," she later told *Vanity Fair*.) The two Canadians would work together at legendary comedy theater The Second City, and star alongside each other on *SCTV *and in movies such as *Frankenweenie*.

The actress is front and center in the trailer for the Netflix documentary *Marty, Life Is Short*.

In home-movie footage, Short pretends to be an overzealous fan and gushes to O'Hara about how much he loved her in *Home Alone*.

O’Hara also says of her colleague in an interview, "I feel like he could improvise to eternity. Couldn't he?"

Best known for movies including *Home Alone*, *Best in Show*, and *Beetlejuice*, as well as TV's *Schitt's Creek* and *The Studio*, O'Hara died in January. She was 71.

A day after her death, Short and fellow comedian Steve Martin paid tribute to O'Hara during their comedy show at Bass Concert Hall in Austin.

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"Catherine O'Hara I met when she was 18 years of age," Short said in front of a projected photo of her. "And all these years later, she has been the greatest, most brilliant, kindest, sweetest angel that any of us worked with."

Helmed by the Oscar-nominated director Lawrence Kasdan, the preview featured an all-star cast.

Martin, Short's costar in *Only Murders in the Building* and many other projects over the years, says that if you're hosting a dinner party and turns out Marty can't come, you simply cancel it. There's no other option.

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Meanwhile, Tom Hanks pops up to add, "Marty operates at the speed of joy."

O'Hara and Short's longtime collaborator Eugene Levy offered high praise: "In this business, in the world of comedy, there's nobody faster. There's nobody smarter. There's nobody funnier."

John Mulaney raves that Short is "good at life," noting that he showed him "it's very important how you carry yourself through all of these experiences."

The 'SCTV' cast included Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short.

Courtesy Everett

Short himself is interviewed as well, commenting on the deaths of his parents in the '60s and of his actress wife, Nancy Dolman, in 2010. Short and Dolman were married in 1980.

"In life, sometimes you hit a green light," Short said. "And sometimes, for no reason, it's red."

One of Short's children with Dolman, Katherine Short, 42, died in February.

Like Short's career, though, the documentary promises to be entertaining, with clips of some of Short's best loved characters, such as Ed Grimley and Jiminy Glick.

"I'm in the greatest profession in the world," Short said. "I'm so damn lucky. How do I keep it going?"

*Marty, Life Is Short* is available May 12 on Netflix.

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