Catherine O’Hara, the shape-shifting Canadian comedic actress whose characters ranged from the deliriously theatrical Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek to the delirious mother in Home Alone, has died at the age of 71.
Her death has led to an outpouring of tributes led by her co-star Macaulay Culkin and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The BBC reported, citing a statement from Creative Artists Agency, that she died at her home in Los Angeles on Friday after a short illness.
O’Hara played Kate McCallister, the mother of Macaulay Culkin’s character Kevin in the film Home Alone, and Delia Deetz in the film Beetlejuice.
An outpouring of tribute
Culkin paid tribute to O’Hara on Instagram.
“Mom. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit next to you in a chair. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later,” Culkin wrote alongside the images of the two of them.
Carney wrote on X: “I join Canadians and fans around the world in mourning the loss of Catherine O’Hara.”
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called her “a beloved Canadian icon with a rare gift for comedy and heart” on X.
“She made people laugh for generations.”
O’Hara was born on March 4, 1954 and grew up in Toronto, the sixth of seven children.
She began her acting career in 1974 as a cast member of the improvisational theater group The Second City in Toronto.
‘When in doubt, play crazy’
O’Hara finally joined the company in 1974. However, she later confessed that she felt anxious when she was on stage.
“My crutch was to play crazy when improvising, when in doubt. Because you didn’t have to excuse anything that came out of your mouth. It didn’t have to make sense,” she admitted to The New Yorker in 2019.
O’Hara eventually landed a role on a TV sketch show called Second City Television, which aired on NBC in the 1980s.
The actress rose to fame for her impressions of several well-known celebrities, including Meryl Streep and Brooke Shields.
She eventually worked with Streep on the film Heartburn and her co-star paid tribute in a statement.
“Catherine O’Hara brought love and light to our world, through clever compassion for the collection of eccentrics she portrayed… what a loss for her family and friends, and the audiences she revered as friends,” she said.
O’Hara made her film debut in 1980, when she co-starred with John Candy and Eugene Levy in Double Negative.
In 1988, she played the role of Delia Deetz, the stepmother of Winona Ryder’s Lydia, in the hit film Beetlejuice, which proved to be a huge commercial success.
Her Beetlejuice co-star Michael Keaton paid tribute, saying: “She is my so-called wife, my so-called nemesis and real real friend”.
“This one hurts. Man, I’m going to miss her.’
O’Hara – who reprized her most famous role as Kevin’s mother in 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – told People: “It’s a perfect movie, isn’t it?”
Her her simple one-word line reading of “KEVIN!!!” – the child she kept leaving behind – became iconic.
O’Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch, whom she met on the set of “Beetlejuice” in 1987, and their two sons.
For the latest news from SBS News, download our app And subscribe to our newsletter.
#Home #Actor #Catherine #OHara #Dies