Catherine O'Hara, Comedy Icon of 'Home Alone' and 'Schitt's Creek,' Passes Away at 71

According to Rokna, citing The NBC News, with a career spanning more than five decades, O’Hara was acclaimed for portraying characters who were exaggerated yet relatable, theatrically vain yet ultimately endearing. She began her career in Canadian sketch comedy, performing and writing for the influential show Second City Television (SCTV), before rising to Hollywood fame with memorable roles in films such as Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice.

O’Hara frequently collaborated with mockumentary pioneer Christopher Guest, becoming a key member of his ensemble of improvisers. She appeared in his beloved films including Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind.

In recent years, O’Hara experienced a late-career renaissance, introducing herself to a new generation of viewers as the eccentric former soap opera star Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek. The role earned her an Emmy Award in 2020, and in her acceptance speech, she expressed gratitude to the show’s creators, Eugene and Dan Levy, for “the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age, my age, who gets to fully be her ridiculous self.”

She also appeared in supporting roles in the Apple TV+ satire The Studio and the post-apocalyptic HBO series The Last of Us, adapted from the popular video game franchise. Pedro Pascal, star of The Last of Us, paid tribute to O’Hara on Instagram, writing, “Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always.”

In 2021, O’Hara was awarded the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, Canada’s highest honor for performers, recognized as “a cultural trailblazer whose international success has inspired many artists and helped pave the way for the next generation of women in comedy.”

Born Catherine Anne O’Hara on March 4, 1954, in Toronto, she launched her acting career with the renowned Second City comedy troupe, an experience she later described as her personal “university.” She credited the troupe with teaching her writing, scene structure, and character development, skills she continued to refine throughout her career.

O’Hara and her Second City colleagues — including future stars such as John Candy, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, and Martin Short — brought their talents to television with SCTV, Canada’s answer to NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The series earned O’Hara her first Emmy Award for outstanding writing and opened the door to Hollywood opportunities.

Throughout the 1980s, she appeared on television and in films, including Martin Scorsese’s After Hours (1985) and Mike Nichols’ Heartburn (1986). Her role as eccentric sculptor Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice (1988) became one of her signature performances.

In the 1990s, O’Hara achieved enduring fame portraying Macaulay Culkin’s beleaguered mother in Home Alone, reprising the role in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Culkin paid tribute to her on Instagram, writing, “Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more… I love you. I’ll see you later.”

The middle phase of her career included voice work in Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, independent films, TV appearances, and acclaimed performances in Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries. In Best in Show (2000), she played Norwich terrier owner Cookie Fleck, while A Mighty Wind featured her as a folk singer reuniting with her ex-partner.

By the time Schitt’s Creek premiered in 2015, O’Hara was already considered comedy royalty. The series, which follows a wealthy family starting over in a small town, became a cult hit during the pandemic and swept all seven major comedy categories at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards. Co-star Dan Levy described her as “extended family before she ever played my family… It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it.”

O’Hara continued to impress audiences with roles in The Studio and The Last of Us, earning Emmy nominations for both. Seth Rogen, her co-star in The Studio, expressed his disbelief and admiration on Instagram, calling her “hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous… We’re all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.”

Catherine O’Hara is survived by her husband, production designer Bo Welch, and their two children.