Steve Martin attends "Meteor Shower" opening night at the Booth Theatre...

Steve Martin attends "Meteor Shower" opening night at the Booth Theatre in 2017 in New York City.  Credit: Getty Images/Dia Dipasupil

With a hit TV show that's been renewed for a third season, an upcoming documentary about him, plus an ongoing comedy tour with Martin Short and the next in his series of books, Steve Martin is contemplating retirement. Sort of.

"My wife keeps saying, 'You always say you're going to retire and then you always come up with something,'" the Emmy-, Grammy- and Oscar-winning comedy icon, who turns 77 on Sunday,  told The Hollywood Reporter in an article published Wednesday.   "I'm really not interested in retiring. I'm not. But I would just work a little less. Maybe."

Martin, who began his entertainment career more than 60 years ago, quit stand-up comedy in 1981 after a meteoric rise, and went on to star in films including "Roxanne," "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" (both 1987), "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (1988), "Parenthood" (1989) and two movies each in the "Father of the Bride," "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "The Pink Panther" franchises in the 1990s and 2000s.

More recently, the longtime banjo player has won three Grammy Awards for his music, has written two Broadway shows, and has embarked on comedy tours with Short — his co-star, along with Selena Gomez, on the series he co-created, "Only Murders in the Building," Hulu's most-watched original comedy. For season 1, Martin received Emmy nominations as actor, writer and producer.

"We were very happy just doing the live show," Martin said of his and Short's "A Very Stupid Conversation" (2015), "An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life" (2017) — which played LIU Post's Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Brookville in November 2018 — and "The Funniest Show in Town at the Moment" (2021). "There may be a natural end to that — somebody gets sick, somebody just wears out — but I wouldn't do it without Marty. When this television show is done, I'm not going to seek others. I'm not going to seek other movies. I don't want to do cameos. This is, weirdly, it."

Family is among his concerns, he explained. He and his wife of 15 years, Anne Stringfield, share a 9-year-old daughter. "I have a family life that's really fun," Martin said. "To film a movie now, to go someplace else to live, I'm not willing to do that anymore. I can't disappear for three months."

Martin's latest memoir, "Number One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversions," is due out from MacMillan on Nov. 15. Additionally, Apple announced Wednesday that Apple Original Films has acquired an untitled two-part documentary about Martin directed and produced by Morgan Neville ("20 Feet from Stardom," "Won't You Be My Neighbor?").

Top Stories

Newsday LogoSUBSCRIBEUnlimited Digital AccessOnly 25¢for 5 months
ACT NOWSALE ENDS SOON | CANCEL ANYTIME