The actor — who is mourning the death of his daughter Katherine — previously spoke about finding new perspective after becoming a dad and grandpa
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NEED TO KNOW
- Martin Short is mourning the death of his oldest child, daughter Katherine, who died at 42 on Feb. 23
- The actor has reflected on fatherhood and how he leaned on his three children after the death of his wife Nancy in 2010
- He’s also found joy in being grandpa to his three young grandsons, calling the experience “magical”
Martin Short is mourning the death of his daughter, Katherine Short, who was found at home in Los Angeles on Feb. 23.
"It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short. The Short family is devastated by this loss, and asks for privacy at this time. Katherine was beloved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought into the world," the actor's family said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.
On Feb. 24, the LAFD confirmed to PEOPLE that they responded to Katherine's address on Feb. 23 for an "approx 41 y.o female." The LAPD confirms the call was regarding a possible suicide.
Katherine, who worked in private practice as a licensed clinical social worker and was also involved with the charity Bring Change 2 Mind, was Short's oldest child.
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The actor also shares sons Henry and Oliver with his late wife Nancy Dolan, who died from ovarian cancer at age 58 in 2010.
Through the years, he has spoken of his love of fatherhood and grandfatherhood as well as leaning on his kids after Nancy's passing.
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In October 2012, Short told The Guardian, “It's been a tough two years for my children." He added that death "is the thing of life that we live in denial about, that it will ever happen to us or our loved ones, and when it does, you gain a little and you suffer a little. There's no big surprise.”
On the Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name in 2025, Short opened up further about being a dad, and about loving being a granddad.
"I now have three grandsons," he told the podcast hosts. "Theo will be four in January. And then Grayson is two and four months, and Campbell just turned two. It's so amazing. It is unbelievable. I don't know, 12 years ago, whatever. I was 63 or something, I was just starting to get a smidge grumpy about aging. Just, you know, I'm not crazy about this arthritis or whatever was sitting in. And then the first grandchild arrives, and it's like, oh, f— it, I'm in."
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He continued, "I don't care about anything anymore about my little this and that, I just so want to be around this. It's so magical. They love you, these grandkids. And you do get to hand them back. That's a cliche, but it is true. You don't have to be on the front lines as much. When you're in it as a father, as a parent, it's just too immediate to have any distance. You can love your kids through the roof, but there's something different and wonderful [about grandparenthood.]"
In his 2014 memoir I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend, Short wrote of lessons he'd learned over the course of his life and career:
"This lesson is, I suppose, a major reason I wrote this book: because along the way I’ve picked up the wisdom that bad things happen, and yet the sun still comes up the next day, and it’s up to you to carry on living your life and keeping your setbacks in perspective. You also have to understand that on some level, these horrible and sad things happen to everyone; the mark of a man is not just how he survives it all but also what wisdom he’s gained from the experience.”
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In 2022, he told PEOPLE that he was also happiest when his life was balanced between work and home.
"Working 15 hours a day? That would be terrible. We should eliminate things that give us stress or make us unhappy," he said of his hit series Only Murders in the Building. "And I think it’s unbecoming at 72 to be 100 percent obsessed with your career. My life, my children, my friends — I have great joy in that."
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