Comedian Martin Short. / Credit: CBS News

Of his friend Martin Short, Tom Hanks once said, "Marty operates at the speed of joy." Is that true? "You know, I don't analyze myself," said Short. "If that's his review for me, I'll accept it. But I think I do have the happy gene. And I think my orientation is to be happy."

For more than 50 years, he's been a bright spot on any stage or screen, with that crazy energy and that singular smile. And when you know what Martin Short has endured in private, his sunny attitude is all the more astonishing.

He's now the subject of a new documentary film out this week. "Marty: Life Is Short" was directed by Hollywood legend and family friend Lawrence Kasdan, who said Short needed to be prodded a bit to do it. "It was not a natural instinct of his to want it; he's not like that," Kasdan said. "I had to sell him on it. I had to lie to him, tell him how much I loved him and I would never hurt him." Kasdan also used hours of home movies with Short's pals, like Hanks, Kurt Russell and Steven Spielberg.

But with all of the good times, it seems Short had more than his share of bad. The youngest of five, Martin was 12 when his older brother was killed in a car accident, and he was still in his teens when both of his parents died.

Asked what that taught him about grief and loss, Short said, "What it developed in me was this muscle of survival and handling grief and a perspective on it."

He said it also gave him a bravery to put himself out on stage: "I think if you've gone through that, an audience not liking you is really not that important anymore."

In 1977, that fearlessness led to him to Toronto's Second City, joining other legends-in-training like Eugene Levy, John Candy, and Catherine O'Hara, who died in January. The documentary is dedicated to her.

"There was no one more brilliant," Short said of O'Hara. "There was no one sweeter. And there was no one funnier. And she, more than anyone on 'SCTV,' would sit behind the camera and give you suggestions. 'Marty, try that.' 'Oh, okay.' And then you always just did it."

The film, like life itself, can be hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.

Nancy Dolman, Short's wife of 30 years, who first captured his heart back in his Toronto days, died of ovarian cancer in 2010. "She was funny. She had lots of edge," he said. "It was an equal ping pong match. … although Tom Hanks would go up to Nancy, 'Aren't you tired of laughing at his jokes?'"

The film is also dedicated to one of their three children, daughter Katherine, a social worker who died by suicide this past February at age 42.

"It's been a nightmare for the family," Short said. "But the understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like my wife's, are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal. And my daughter fought for a long time with extreme mental health, borderline personality disorder, other things, and did the best she couldn't until she couldn't.

"So, Nan's last words to me were, 'Martin, let me go.' And what she was just saying [was], 'Dad, let me go.'"

Short has lived in Pacific Palisades, California, since the late 1980s. "I bought this in November of '87," he said. "It was based on two movies that I was gonna make. And the second I signed the mortgage, one movie fell through. And I said to Nancy, 'What do we do? We can't afford this.' And she said, 'Then we'd move?'"

Short's home was spared from last year's fires; his son's home was not. And the losses of this year can seem overwhelming. "My son Oliver and his wife are temporarily living in Newport Beach, because their house burned down," Short said. "And I must say, when I was getting in the car that day and I was thinking, 'Okay. I'm 75. Why am I continuing? Like, really why? I'm not gonna crash my car, but why? What is the point of this?' And then I got to Newport, and these two grandsons, five and four, just jump, 'Papa! Let's play giant!' And suddenly you go, 'Oh, that's why. That's why. Okay.'"

He'll soon be shooting another season of the hit show "Only Murders In the Building," and there are some other things in the works, including a possible collaboration with Meryl Streep on Broadway. "We are trying to figure out something; we're just not sure if the box office would be there," he joked. "It's a gamble. You never know how Meryl's gonna do at the box office, but let's hope!"

In the documentary, Ron Howard asks Short, "Why do you continue to push yourself?" To which Short replied, "I just think it's important, if you're 'gifted,' to share that gift, of course, with people!"

He may joke about it, but it is a gift. Somehow, Martin Short keeps everyone laughing, trying to find joy even in moments when it's hard to see anything but pain.

He recalled that, when his wife got sick, she wanted him to keep working: "I didn't work as much," he said. "But I remember I was doing 'Damages' at the time. This was the last five months, but I went for a month to shoot, and I remember getting to set, and no one knew. And Glenn [Close] would go, 'Marty's here, yay!!" And I'd go, 'Okay. Let me just go to the dressing room for a second [and compose myself]. ... Okay, then.' You know, that's what you have to do."

Asked if it helped him to get out and do that, he replied, "I don't know if it helped. You know, it didn't help, but you had to do it, you know? I mean, people have to do things in difficult times. And the mark of the man is: Can you do it?"

So, what does he tell himself to get through that? "Well, it's something that, I've just been in that situation many times," he replied. "You head for the light."

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