Despite being an entertainer since his childhood, Steve Martin still doubts himself.
“I always thought this just doesn’t happen, and it did,” Martin says early in the AppleTV+ two-part documentary, “STEVE! (Martin) a documentary in 2 pieces.”
“I guarantee you I have no talent. None. So, I had to do a work-around in order to get on stage.”
But after a lifetime of hard work and, more often than not, a profound sense of loneliness, Martin found his skills, his humor and an incredible career that hasn’t slowed down.
Steve Martin joked in the new documentary of his life, “I guarantee you I have no talent. None. So, I had to do a work-around in order to get on stage.” (Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)
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When asked why he wanted to do the documentary, Martin admitted, “It’s a hard thing to answer. I see it as an antidote to the sort of anodyne interviews, generic things I’ve talked about a million times and look back at what an odd life.
“My whole life is backwards. How did I go from riddled with anxiety in my 30s, to 75 and really happy? How did this happen?”
Read on for the biggest insights, and occasional laughs, from Martin’s life.
Seeking fatherly approval
Steve Martin with his parents, Mary and Glenn, in 1978. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Throughout the documentary, Martin notes his father, Glenn Martin, could be cold and distant.
As he continued evolving his unique act in the 1960s, Martin said, “I always thought my father was a little embarrassed by me. He couldn’t quite be proud of an unconventional showbiz act that he couldn’t understand. By that time, I had been so kind of alienated from my father that negative comments were actually my encouragement.”
A friend, John McEuen, recalled Martin’s father backstage after a show telling his son, “You know what was wrong with that show …”
Another time, after the premiere of Martin’s breakout film, “The Jerk,” another friend asked Glenn what he thought of Martin in the movie, and he replied, “Well, he’s no Charlie Chaplin.”
Martin said he thought his father was “a little embarrassed” by his “unconventional showbiz act.” (Paul Natkin/WireImage)
In the second part of the documentary, Martin revealed that, over time, he worked to understand his father better and found a sense of closure with what he gathered.
“You realize what he went through,” Martin said. “It was a life of hopes and dreams, and he was under incredible stress to support the family. It must have been unbelievable the pressure.
“My mother wanted to go to work. I remember my father saying to my mother, ‘No wife of mine is going to work.’ Just right out of a movie. I have great sympathy for my father not having the means to fulfill his dream.”
Asked how he felt about his father, who died in 1997, Martin said, “I like him. He had a really good sense of humor. Yeah. I kind of wish I could talk to him again.”
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‘Afraid of anxiety attacks’
Martin recalled being “scared out of my mind” when he landed a writing job on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” (Michael Montfort/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Martin had performed much of his life, beginning at age 10, when he had a job selling newspapers at Disneyland, and later working in the park’s magic shop. From there, he began to form his own act and slowly gained some attention, but he remained uncertain of his future.
He landed a job on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” which he recalled made him “scared out of my mind.”
As he worked on the show, Martain said, “I started having anxiety attacks. I really struggled with it for many, many years.”
For a time, the comedian sported a hippie look, with long hair and a shaggy beard, trying to fit in with others.
“But I never smoked pot,” he said. “I couldn’t take aspirin. I was so afraid of anxiety attacks.”
The comedian admitted he struggled with anxiety attacks for “many, many years.” (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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In a 1968 letter from Martin to an unidentified recipient, he recalled suffering “the worst experience of my life. Fantastically rapid palpitation of the heart accompanied by fear. I felt very detached from the world, no past, only a distant present. I was very disjointed at work. I could not talk without stumbling over words. I had thoughts of quitting.”
He pulled himself out of the spiral, but throughout the documentary, Martin admitted an underlying sense of unease when he performs.
“On one hand, you feel this exceeding love coming at you, but it’s not what you expected it to feel like. It creates anxiety,” he said.
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Famous Friends
Martin Short and Steve Martin have been friends and collaborators for decades. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
Throughout his long career, Martin has maintained friendships with a variety of people, including his nearly 40-year pal and comedy partner, Martin Short.
Tina Fey noted that, with Martin, “there’s a longing at the center of pretty much everybody he shows us. …And the only person who can fix it is Martin Short.”
The “Only Murders in the Building” stars first worked together on “Three Amigos” before starring in the “Father of the Bride” films.
They began touring together in 2015 and continue to do so with dates stretching into June 2024.
At one point, Jerry Seinfeld asks Martin in an interview what he’ll do if Short, who happens to be four years younger than him, dies, and he admits he would probably halt his career.
Simultaneously joking and being serious, Martin said he would stop working if his pal Short died. (Bruce Glikas/Getty Images)
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In another surprisingly tender moment in the documentary, Martin reflects on his “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” co-star and friend John Candy.
“John Candy was very sensitive and complex, and we really loved each other,” Martin says.
Looking over a copy of the “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” script he keeps at his home, Martin remembered Candy delivering a beautiful monologue near the end of the film that ended up being mostly cut.
Martin said “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” co-star John Candy “was very sensitive and complex, and we really loved each other.” (Paramount/Getty Images)
Reading it, Martin teared up and quickly closes the script before moving on to talk about his frustrations with filmmaking.
“You pour your heart into these movies … and then two years later it’s just another title on the video shelf,” he said.
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Marriage & fatherhood
For most of his life, Martin said he wasn’t sure about starting a family. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
Given his experiences with his father, Martin admitted he wasn’t planning on a family for most of his life.
“Well, family was not a goal for me. I wasn’t shown that it was something fantastic. Not sure if I’m phrasing it correctly because it’s such a common thing for most people, but it just wasn’t for me,” he said.
Throughout the documentary, Martin notes several times in his life when he felt lonely and isolated, in part due to his career. Famous friends who appeared, like Diane Keaton, Tina Fey and Eric Idle also described him as solitary and shy, contrary to his charming and seemingly arrogant public persona.
“Back then, I wasn’t mean with people. I was removed. I was always somewhere else in my head,” Martin said of his younger days.
In 1986, Martin married actress Victoria Tennant, who had co-starred with him in “All of Me” and “L.A. Story.”
“When I married Victoria Tennant, I liked her a lot,” he recalled. “She was very funny, very amusing, smart and English. It was a relationship that just kind of defaulted into a romance. And also a part of it was I guess I should get married, which is not a good reason. There’s just no way to force it.
Victoria Tennant and Steve Martin were married from 1986 to 1994. (Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
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“Going away and living in a hotel for three months [for a movie], it’s almost like a bachelor life. You can’t really conduct a marriage in a hotel room. I always felt like, with romantic relationships, something was just about to go wrong.”
The couple divorced in 1994, and Martin said, “I felt lost at that time. I can’t go down the road with Victoria, but when we did get divorced, I said, ‘This is not her fault. At most, both our faults. And at least my fault.”
In 2007, Martin married writer and former New Yorker staffer Anne Stringfield.
They met when Stringfield first called about a story he had written, and they began regularly talking with one another.
“I remember telling my shrink there’s this woman that sticks in my head,” Martin said.
Martin married Anne Stringfield in 2007, after first meeting over the phone when she was fact-checking a story he wrote for The New Yorker. (Michael Kovac/Getty Images for AFI)
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Stringfield admitted that, while dating, she wasn’t sure Martin was interested in having a child, something his sister Melinda also noted in the documentary.
But in 2012, at age 67, Martin became a father with Stringfield welcoming a daughter into their lives.
‘It was just time’
Martin credits his shift in perspective to two things — movies and his friend and “Father of the Bride” co-star Diane Keaton.
“Movie fatherhood paved the way for actual fatherhood,” Martin said. “And then Diane Keaton had children, and I remember sitting there. Her daughter was playing in the yard, and I thought I could see a kid out there playing in the backyard.”
Keaton said “it was just time” when Martin became a father.
Martin and Stringfield have one daughter. (Kevin Mazur/VF15/WireImage)
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“The first time I saw true love in my life was after the baby was born. I looked over at Anne, and she’s holding the baby. And she’s looking into her face, and there’s no one else on the planet, Martin said.
Martin chose not to show his daughter on camera at all in the documentary to maintain her privacy.
“I hate it. There’s too much joy in the family life to compromise it in any way. I think people understand you don’t want to show your kids on camera,” he said. She appears only as an animated stick figure in one scene where she says goodbye to him mid-interview,and as a drawing in a family portrait.
“My life is completely backwards. I worked very hard early on, and then have a happy marriage and a fantastic child at this age. And I love it,” Martin said.
“STEVE! (Martin) a documentary in 2 pieces” is available now on AppleTV+.