Catherine O’Hara, the actress best known for her performances in the Christmas classic Home Alone and the cult sitcom Schitt’s Creek, has died at the age of 71.
Her representatives confirmed O’Hara died at her Los Angeles home on Friday after suffering from a “brief illness”.
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O’Hara’s career spanned for more than 50 years starring in high-profile movies like Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice.
Her on-screen son Macaulay Culkin, who played young Kevin McCallister in the Home Alone classics, paid tribute to O’Hara on Saturday.
“Mama. I thought we had time,” Culkin wrote.
“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.”
She had attended Culkin’s Walk of Fame ceremony two years ago, and said at the time: “Thank you for including me, your fake mum who left you home alone not once, but twice, to share in this happy occasion … I’m so proud of you.”
After the success of Home Alone, O’Hara turned to collaborations with director Christopher Guest, starring in many of his iconic mockumentaries, including Waiting for Guffman (1996) and Best in Show (2000).
O’Hara worked often alongside Eugene Levy in those films, and they became a signature duo who went on to co-star in the acclaimed Schitt’s Creek together.
The show offered O’Hara a late-career renaissance in recent years, and introduced her to a new generation of television viewers as the daffy former soap opera star Moira Rose, a defining role that earned her an Emmy Award in 2020, and a Golden Globe in 2021.
In her acceptance speech, she thanked the show’s co-creators, the father-and-son duo 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 joined the supporting casts of the acclaimed Apple TV+ show business satire The Studio and the post-apocalyptic HBO drama The Last of Us, adapted from a popular video game franchise of the same name.
“Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful,” Pedro Pascal, the star of The Last of Us, posted on Instagram in a tribute to O’Hara.
“There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always.”
O’Hara was born March 4, 1954, in Toronto.
She launched her acting career with the famed Second City comedy troupe, a formative experience she later described as her personal “university”.
“I learned writing, scene structure, character development,” O’Hara was later quoted as saying.
“Everything I’m still tapping into, and I was fortunate to meet all those wonderful, talented people with whom I still get to work.”
O’Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch and sons Matthew and Luke.
A private celebration of life will be held by the family, according to her agency.
Tributes flow for ‘a class act’
“What a terrible loss she was, a class act, nuanced, humble, a total natural, she brought buckets of joy to this old planet, she will be deeply missed, she was an inspiration to anyone who fancies themselves humorous, a masterclass every time she stepped in front of a camera,” actress and comedian Sandra Bernhard said.
Actress and comedian Lily Tomlin remembered O’Hara as “bright, beautiful, and full of joy that touched so many.”
Comedy characterised O’Hara’s work, and the National Comedy Centre described her as “one of the rare performers who could disappear completely into a character and somehow make that character unforgettable.”
“She shaped what comedy acting could be — blending precision, humanity and originality in a way that effortless but was anything but. Her work will continue to inspire generations of performers and audiences,” executive director of the New York museum Journey Gunderson said.
— With NBC’s Daniel Arkin and Meriam Bouarrouj and CNN
