‘Home Alone’ Star Actress Catherine O’Hara Dead

Canadian actress Catherine O’Hara, best known for her roles in Home Alone, Beetlejuice, and the Emmy-winning comedy Schitt’s Creek, has died at the age of 71. Her agent told the BBC that she passed away at her Los Angeles home on Friday after a brief illness.

O’Hara rose to fame with Toronto’s Second City improvisation troupe and the sketch show SCTV, where she worked alongside Eugene Levy and the late John Candy. She later made a name for herself in Hollywood, starring as Delia Deetz in 1988’s Beetlejuice, where she performed an unforgettable rendition of Day-O (The Banana Boat Song), and as Kate McCallister, the frantic mother in Home Alone, delivering the iconic scream of “Kevin!” when she realises her son has been left behind.

“Lightning strikes twice in a career,” her fans would say, and O’Hara proved it with these memorable performances. Macaulay Culkin, her co-star in Home Alone, paid tribute on Friday, sharing photos and writing:

“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.”

O’Hara’s career later blossomed with her work on Schitt’s Creek, a comedy about a wealthy family forced to live in a small town they once bought as a joke. She played the eccentric Moira Rose, known for her bizarre accent, outrageous fashion, and hilarious one-liners. Her performance won her a Golden Globe in 2021, and she thanked her co-stars Eugene and Dan Levy for letting her play “a woman of a certain age, my age, who gets to fully be her ridiculous self.” Dan Levy called it “a gift to have danced in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance” and said her presence felt like family.

O’Hara also collaborated multiple times with Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy on acclaimed mockumentary films, including Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration, the last earning her a National Board of Review Award.

Even in her later years, O’Hara continued to work. She appeared in HBO’s The Last of Us as a therapist and starred in Seth Rogen’s comedy series The Studio as Patty Leigh, a studio executive.

She earned award nominations for both roles. Rogen called her “the funniest person I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching on screen” and said it was “devastating” to lose her. Judd Apatow also remembered her as “brilliant, kind, and riotously funny for 50 years.”

Born in Toronto, O’Hara credited her Canadian upbringing with shaping her sense of humour, teaching her not to take herself too seriously. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney joined fans worldwide in mourning, saying: “Canada has lost a legend.”

Catherine O’Hara is survived by her husband, Bo Welch, her sons Matthew and Luke, and her siblings Michael, Mary Margaret, Maureen, Marcus, Tom, and Patricia. Her talent, warmth, and unforgettable comedic performances will be remembered for generations.

Caption: Catherine O’Hara