Reuters
Catherine O’Hara, the comedic actress best known for her starring roles in the films Home Alone and Beetlejuice, as well as her Emmy Award-winning role in Schitt’s Creek, has died at the age of 71.
The Canadian star rose to fame through Toronto’s Second City improv troupe and on SCTV, before making a name for herself in the United States in 1988’s Beetlejuice and as the matriarch in the holiday classic Home Alone.
O’Hara, remembered by colleagues as a “wonderful person, artist and collaborator,” who recently appeared in the Emmy-winning comedy The Studio and HBO’s The Last of Us.
In a statement to the BBC, O’Hara’s agent said she died Friday at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness.
O’Hara struck lightning twice during his career with indelible cinematic turns.
In the 1988 scary satire Beetlejuice, she played Delia Deetz who led her possessed guests in a captivating song and dance performance of Day-O (the Banana Boat song).
Two years later, in Home Alone, his panicked cry of “Kevin!” When she realizes that her mischievous eight-year-old son has been abandoned during their Christmas vacation, it’s one of the most memorable moments in one of the most successful film comedies of all time.
Her younger co-star Macaulay Culkin, now 45, paid tribute to his on-screen mother Friday, sharing footage of the two of them from the film and the years following: “Mom. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later.”
The Toronto-born actress got her start as a waitress in the Toronto Second City theater franchise in the 1970s, before auditioning for a role in the famous acting troupe.
She further developed her comedic skills after joining the cast of the sketch show Second City Television (SCTV) – one of the most successful Canadian television shows of all time – alongside Eugene Levy and the late John Candy.
She credits her Canadian roots with helping her develop her sense of humor.
In 2020, she told Rolling Stone that growing up in Canada, she didn’t have the same sense of nationalism or patriotism that she saw in the United States.
“And that’s a good thing because it makes you look outside of yourself and be aware of the world and not take yourself so seriously,” she said.
“And I think Canadians not only have a sense of humor about others, but also about themselves.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney joined Canadians and fans around the world in mourning O’Hara.
“In five decades of work, Catherine has earned her place in the Canadian comedy canon – from Toronto’s iconic production of Godspell to SCTV to Schitt’s Creek,” he said. “Canada has lost a legend.”
O’Hara also collaborated four times with Christopher Guest and co-writer Eugene Levy, including on the critically acclaimed mockumentaries Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. Her role as actress Marilyn Hack in For Your Consideration earned her the 2006 National Board of Review Award for Supporting Actress.
In a statement to Variety, Guest said he was devastated and that “we have lost one of the comic book giants of our time.”
O’Hara enjoyed a late career boost thanks to the Canadian comedy series Schitt’s Creek which became one of the biggest hits of the Covid lockdown.
The fish-out-of-water comedy series follows the wealthy Rose family as they abruptly lose their money and their mansion, and are forced to move into a seedy motel in a bad town that they bought as a joke.
O’Hara’s character, Moira, was particularly delightful, with her wildly fluctuating accent, extravagant fashion sense, and brilliant one-liners, like “Never assume, Twyla, because when you assume, it makes both of us an asshole.”
After winning the Emmy Award for Actress in a Comedy, O’Hara thanked her co-stars Eugene and Dan Levy for giving her the opportunity to play “a woman of a certain age – my age – who fully becomes her ridiculous self”.
She had continued to work until her death, playing a therapist in HBO’s sci-fi drama The Last of Us and an ousted movie executive in Seth Rogen’s The Studio last year.
In The Studio, she plays Patty Leigh, a studio boss replaced by Rogen’s character, who pursues more creative roles as a film producer and heads to the Golden Globes – a scene to which O’Hara was no stranger.
She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2021 for her role in Schitt’s Creek and was nominated for her role in The Studio at this year’s awards.
She is also nominated for the Actor Awards (formerly Screen Actors Guild Awards), which take place in March, for her role as Patty.
O’Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch and sons Matthew and Luke, as well as her siblings Michael O’Hara, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus O’Hara, Tom O’Hara and Patricia Wallice.
With additional reporting from Jessica Murphy in Toronto and entertainment reporter Steven McIntosh.
