911 call in tragic death of Martin Short’s daughter Katherine is released

The Daily Mail has obtained the 911 call made regarding the tragic death of Martin Short’s daughter Katherine by suicide at the age of 42 on Monday.

In the call, a Los Angeles Fire Department dispatcher was heard telling first responders that Katherine’s wound was a “self-inflicted” wound.

The officer said that the person who reported the incident ‘was with the patient and could not enter the bedroom of the house in Hollywood, California.’

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed to the Daily Mail that crews responded to a call at the address around 6:41 p.m., but declined to identify the person involved due to privacy concerns.

On Tuesday, representatives for the 75-year-old comedy legend confirmed the devastating news in a statement to the Daily Mail.

“It is with deep sadness that we confirm the death of Katherine Hartley Short,” the statement said. ‘The Short family is devastated by this loss and requests privacy at this time.

‘Katherine was loved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought to the world.’

In the call, a Los Angeles Fire Department dispatcher was heard telling first responders that the wound was “self-inflicted” in nature. Katherine’s Hollywood home pictured

Katherine was last seen publicly with her father in 2023 when he celebrated his 40th birthday at Grand Master Recorders in Hollywood, where he was attended by Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Catherine O’Hara, Bo Welch and Joni Mitchell.

Katherine was a licensed clinical social worker with a master’s degree from the University of Southern California.

Short adopted Katherine and her brothers, Oliver and Henry, with his late wife, Nancy Dolman, who died in 2010 after a battle with ovarian cancer.

The couple had been married for 30 years at the time of his death.

Following Dolman’s death, Short’s long-time comedy partner Steve Martin paid tribute to him with a musical elegy called The Great Remember (For Nancy), which appeared on one of Dolman’s albums.

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

He admitted that he still ‘talks’ to his late wife and still feels her presence around him.

In an interview with AARP magazine, he said: ‘With real tragedy, you become a little braver. From yin to yang: the positive part of the dark side of life.’

On Tuesday, the comedy legend’s representatives confirmed the devastating news in a statement to the Daily Mail; Katherine was photographed with Short and his brother Oliver in 2006.

Short also previously told the CBC that his attitude towards the pain was: ‘We move on.’

In his memoirs published in 2014, he described Nancy’s death as ‘the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced’.

Short also benefited from her own experiences while supporting her children who were experiencing the pain of losing their mother.

The night before Nancy died, speaking to her youngest son Henry, she told him: ‘This will make you stronger. This will make you more determined.’

Short and her children, although 14 years have passed since her husband’s death, the actor had previously quoted George Eliot, whom he valued very much, while thinking about his wife.

‘Our dead are never dead to us until we forget them,’ he said Hollywood Reporter In an interview conducted in August 2024.

‘We were together for 36 years,’ he added. ‘I didn’t want to forget Nancy.’

Originally from Hamilton, Canada, Short was orphaned at the age of 20 and suffered loss throughout her adulthood.

Despite suffering more as a teenager than most people experience in their lifetimes, Short recently insisted he wasn’t ‘devastated’ by the tragedy that plagued his earlier years; instead arguing that it makes him stronger.

Katherine was last photographed publicly celebrating her 40th birthday with her father, Martin Short, at Grand Master Recorders in 2023.

A sneak peek from her daughter’s party attended by Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Catherine O’Hara, Bo Welch, Joni Mitchell and Julianne Phillips in 2023

Short was born in March 1950 in Ontario, Canada, as the youngest of five children of Irish and British immigrants Olive Grace and Charles Patrick Short.

He talks about his childhood in a conversation with his four older siblings in 2012 GuardShort said being the youngest was ‘the greatest position in the world’ because people fawned over him and joked that it was impossible for him to have low self-esteem growing up.

He had three brothers, David, Michael and Brian, and a sister, Nora. But in 1962, when Short was just 12 years old, oldest brother David died in a car crash in Montreal.

In a speech when her memoir was published in 2014, she discussed writing about her brother’s death.

‘What you don’t know when you start is how open you will be: what you will say, what you won’t say, what you feel comfortable saying,’ he said CBC News.

She added that writing a memoir isn’t necessarily the ’emotional’ experience people might assume.

Six years after David’s sudden death, Martin also lost his mother Olive, who had been battling cancer for several years. He was 17 years old at the time.

Two years later, his father died of complications from a stroke.

Short and his late wife, Nancy Dolman, photographed with their children Katherine and Oliver in 1989

When Short was just 12 years old, his brother David passed away after being involved in a car accident. Short, second from left, pictured with siblings David, Michael, Brian and Nora

Short’s parents (pictured) Olive Grace and Charles Patrick Short were Anglo-Irish immigrants who settled in Ontario, Canada.

Despite being orphaned and losing his brother before he was 20, Short insisted that the tragedy he experienced in his youth shaped him as he learned to live with its pain.

‘When I was 20, I knew things about life, death, tragedy and loss that none of my friends knew. ‘I don’t know why it doesn’t devastate me,’ he told the Hollywood Reporter last month.

‘The only thing I can think of is that these kinds of life stresses either strengthen you or defeat you.’

He added that the losses helped him develop ‘muscles’ to deal with tougher things later in life.

‘I think in a weird way it’s made me bolder as an artist, braver on stage,’ she said, and explained that she had less inhibitions when performing as a young, rising star because she didn’t care what others thought of her.

Short met fellow actress Nancy Dolman in 1972, and the two married five years later.

After the couple met, Dolman gave up being a stay-at-home mother to her three adopted children.

And his perspective seems to have worked.

Throughout his career, Short has triumphed on stage and screen; and most recently dazzled audiences with comedy partner Steve Martin in Only Murders in the Building; It’s one of the biggest hits on the Disney Plus streaming platform.

Short met fellow actress Dolman in 1972, and the two married in 1980.

Five years after the couple married, Nancy retired from show business and became a stay-at-home mother.