Catherine O’Hara, Beloved Actress, Comedian, and Screenwriter, Dies at 71

Beloved Canadian-American film and television actress, comedian, and screenwriter Catherine O’Hara has died at the age of 71. 

With a career spanning more than 50 years, O’Hara brought endless joy and entertainment to audiences around the world while achieving extraordinary personal success. Over the course of her extensive career, she was nominated for more than 100 awards and won 35 of them. 

Catherine O’Hara was born on March 4, 1954, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She began her career in her hometown in 1974 as a cast member of The Second City, an improvisational comedy theater group with programs based in Chicago, Toronto, and New York City. Two years later, The Second City created the sketch-comedy television series Second City Television (SCTV). O’Hara was a regular cast member during seasons one, two, and four, appeared as a guest during seasons five and six, and served as a writer during seasons one, two, four, and six. 

During the seasons in which she was not a regular cast member, O’Hara appeared on other comedy programs and provided voice work for several animated children’s shows and television specials. 

O’Hara was one of many major stars to emerge from SCTV. The cast included John Candy, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Harold Ramis, Tony Rosato, and Martin Short, all of whom became famous names in their own right. O’Hara’s dual role as both a writer and performer helped earn her widespread recognition in Canada and led to her first Emmy Award win in 1982 for Outstanding Writing. 

Following the end of SCTV in 1984, O’Hara continued working steadily in film and television. She appeared in a supporting role in Martin Scorsese’s 1985 neo-noir comedy After Hours. Her international breakthrough, however, came in 1988 with Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. 

Beetlejuice, a gothic horror comedy, featured an ensemble cast including Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara. O’Hara portrayed Delia Deetz, an artist and the stepmother of Ryder’s character, Lydia Deetz. The film was a commercial success, grossing $75.1 million worldwide against a $15 million budget. 

In 1990, O’Hara starred as Kate McCallister in the Christmas comedy Home Alone, directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The film launched Macaulay Culkin to stardom and earned $476.7 million worldwide, far surpassing its $18 million budget. It remains one of the highest-grossing comedy films of all time. O’Hara reprised her role as Kate McCallister in the 1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. 

Throughout the remainder of the 1990s and well into the 2000s, O’Hara appeared in numerous films and television shows. She became especially well-known for her voice work in animated films, including Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Tina in Chicken Little (2005), Penny in Over the Hedge (2006), Mrs. Walters in Monster House (2006), and Susan Frankenstein, among other roles, in Frankenweenie (2012). 

In 2015, O’Hara experienced a major career resurgence with the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek (stylized as Schitt$ Creek). The series aired from 2015 to 2020 and followed the wealthy Rose family after they lose their fortune when they are defrauded by their business manager. The family — video store corporation owner Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy), eccentric former soap opera actress Moira Rose (Catherine O’Hara) and their spoiled, self-centered children David Rose (Dan Levy) and Alexis Rose (Annie Murphy) — are forced to relocate to their only remaining asset, which is a small, desolate town called Schitt’s Creek which Johnny purchased as a joke decades earlier. 

The series reunited SCTV alumni Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, a collaboration that proved highly successful. O’Hara won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 2020 for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy for her performance as Moira Rose. She also won Best Actress in a Continuing Leading Comedic Role at the Canadian Screen Awards for six consecutive years, from 2016 to 2021. 

Both Variety and Deadline report that O’Hara died at her Los Angeles home after a brief illness, according to her agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA). 

Following the news of her death, tributes poured in from stars and collaborators who worked closely with O’Hara. 

Her Home Alone son, Macaulay Culkin, posted on Instagram: “Mama. 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.”

Her Schitt’s Creek son, Dan Levy, posted on Instagram: “What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years. Having spent over fifty years collaborating with my Dad, Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family. It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it. I will cherish every funny memory I was fortunate enough to make with her. My heart goes out to Bo, Matthew, Luke and every member of her big, beautiful family.” 

Michael Keaton wrote on Instagram: “We go back before the first Beetlejuice. She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend. This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her. Thinking about Beau as well.”

Pedro Pascal shared: “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. Always ♥️ The one and ONLY #CatherineOHara”

Brooke Shields posted a video of O’Hara spoofing her in classic SCTV sketches, writing: “What an honor it was to be spoofed by Catherine O’Hara. What an unfathomable loss. We love you, Catherine. Comedy won’t be the same without her. Sending love to Catherine’s family, friends, castmates, and fans today. Truly beloved.”

Seth Rogen also shared a tribute on Instagram, writing: “Really don’t know what to say… I told O’Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I’d ever had the pleasure of watching on screen. Home Alone was the movie that made me want to make movies. Getting to work with her was a true honour. She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous… she made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it. This is just devastating. We’re all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.”

Director Martin Scorsese told IndieWire: “To lose Catherine O’Hara… it feels impossible to me, and to millions of others as well, I’m sure. Many people know her from ‘Schitt’s Creek.’ For many others, it’s the ‘Home Alone’ pictures or ‘Beetlejuice’ or the Christopher Guest comedies. For me, and for most of my friends, it’s ‘SCTV’: all I have to do is think about one of the characters she created, like Lola Heatherton or Dusty Towne, and I’m laughing. Catherine was a true comic genius, a true artist, and a wonderful human being. I was blessed to be able to work with her on ‘After Hours,’ and I’m going to miss her presence and her artistry. We all are.”

O’Hara is survived by her husband, production designer Bo Welch, whom she met on the set of Beetlejuice, and their two sons, Matthew and Luke.

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