In 1980, she married fellow Canadian actor Martin Short, whom she had met during the run of the 1972 Toronto production of Godspell. Dolman was Gilda Radner's understudy. Dolman attended high school at York Mills Collegiate Institute in Toronto, and held a Bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Western Ontario.
Dolman and Short adopted three children: Katherine Elizabeth (born 1983), a graduate of New York University; Oliver Patrick (born 1986), a graduate of the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business; and Henry Hayter (born 1989), who also graduated from the University of Notre Dame in May 2012.
Dolman retired from show Business in 1985 to be a homemaker and full-time mother to her children. A profile of the couple appeared in the February 1987 issue of Vogue. The family made their home in Pacific Palisades, California. Dolman and Short also kept a vacation home in Lake Muskoka, Ontario.
Dolman was suffering from ovarian cancer and died on August 21, 2010, in Pacific Palisades, California. She was 58 years old. According to the Los Angeles County Coroner, she died of natural causes. Dolman's remains were cremated and her ashes were scattered from the dock of the Short family cottage, onto the waters of Lake Rosseau, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.
