Catherine O’Hara, ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Actress, has passed away.
She gained recognition as one of the original cast members on the Canadian television sketch comedy show SCTV (1976). O’Hara stayed with the show for its entirety (1976-1984). She went on to devote her talents to several films directed by Tim Burton, including Beetlejuice (1988), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and later, Frankenweenie (2012). O’Hara also frequently collaborated with director and writer, Christopher Guest, appearing in his mockumentary films, three of which earned her awards and nominations, Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006).
Despite her knack for the quirky, Ms. O’Hara’s biggest screen achievement came with the 1990 Christmas film “Home Alone,” directed by Chris Columbus and written by John Hughes. Playing a harried suburban matriarch trying to shepherd her brood on a trip to Paris, she discovers mid-flight that she has forgotten her youngest, Kevin (Macaulay Culkin), who spends the bulk of the film enjoying freedoms rarely granted a child, when not fending off a pair of bumbling burglars.
She had no inkling that the movie would go into heavy rotation for decades as a Yuletide staple.
Ms. O’Hara was earlier cast in “Beetlejuice” (1988), directed by Tim Burton, as Delia Deetz, a sculptor of abstract statues and the clueless stepmother to a misanthropic teenager played by Winona Ryder. That film became a cult favorite, exposing Ms. O’Hara to an audience beyond the niche world of improvisational and sketch comedy, and it set her up for a film and television career that would last for nearly another four decades.
Michael Buble described her as being, “One of a kind. A rare light in this world and her passing hits with a weight I can’t fully put into words.
She wasn’t just a legendary artist, actor and comedian. She was an ambassador for Canada in the truest sense: brilliant, fearless, deeply original, and so full of humanity. She made the world laugh, but she also made people feel seen.
As an artist, she inspired me more than she’ll ever know. She set the bar for what it means to represent your country with excellence and grace and all without ever losing warmth or humility.”
She won a prime-time Emmy in 1982 for writing on “SCTV,” and in 2020 won her first acting Emmy for portraying the reality-challenged Moira Rose on “Schitt’s Creek.” She also won a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for that role.
Her survivors include her husband, Bo Welch; her sons, Matthew and Luke; and her siblings, Michael O’Hara, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus O ‘Hara, Tom O’Hara and Patricia Wallice.
Catherine O’Hara died on 30 January in a Los Angeles hospital, at the age of 71 of a pulmonary embolism, her death certificate in the US has revealed.
In addition to the blood clot in her lungs, the death certificate listed rectal cancer as the long-term cause of death. It was indicated that she had been receiving treatment for the cancer since March 2025.
A memorial service will be held privately by the family.
Photo by britannica.com©
Discover more from TUTORING YOU
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
