Catherine O'Hara, the acclaimed Canadian-American actress whose performances brought laughter to millions across television and film, has died at her Los Angeles home, according to her representatives at Creative Artists Agency. She was 71 and had been suffering from a brief illness.
O'Hara's influence on entertainment spanned five decades, beginning when she joined Toronto's Second City comedy troupe in the 1970s. There, she launched an enduring creative partnership with Eugene Levy that would culminate in the Emmy-winning series "Schitt's Creek," a cultural phenomenon that introduced her talents to a new generation of viewers.
The sixth of seven children in a Catholic family of Irish descent, O'Hara grew up in suburban Toronto with a natural gift for making her family laugh through impersonations, according to her biography on the philanthropic foundation the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which awarded the actress as one of 2020’s great immigrants.
After graduating from Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute, an alternative high school, she began waitressing at Second City's Toronto location. Despite having no formal acting training, she secured a position as understudy to Gilda Radner before Radner departed for "Saturday Night Live.”
O'Hara joined Second City as a full cast member in 1974, working alongside future comedy legends, including Dan Aykroyd and Martin Short. She was briefly hired for SNL but left before making an on-air appearance.
Her early television work included the groundbreaking sketch series "SCTV," where she earned her first Emmy for writing alongside legendary comedians, including John Candy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, and Joe Flaherty. By the 1980s, her performances and writing on "SCTV" had established her as a star in Canada.
Though Hollywood initially struggled to position her distinctive style, O'Hara found memorable roles in Martin Scorsese's 1985 film "After Hours" and Tim Burton's 1988 "Beetlejuice," playing oddball supporting characters. It was on the set of "Beetlejuice," where she portrayed the overbearing stepmother Delia Deetz, that O'Hara met her future husband, American production designer Bo Welch. Their marriage prompted her move to the United States.
She gained widespread recognition as Kate McCallister, Macaulay Culkin's exasperated mother in the blockbuster "Home Alone" films. The Christmas-themed movies became among the biggest box office earners of the early 1990s and television perennials.
O'Hara discovered her creative groove in Christopher Guest's series of improvisation-based mockumentaries, starting with 1996's "Waiting for Guffman" and continuing through 2000's "Best in Show," 2003's "A Mighty Wind," and 2006's "For Your Consideration." In "Best in Show," the biggest hit of the series, she and Levy portrayed married couple Gerry and Cookie Fleck, dog show participants who constantly encounter Cookie's former lovers.
"I am devastated," Guest said in a statement. "We have lost one of the comic giants of our age."
She also lent her distinctive voice to animated films, including "A Nightmare Before Christmas" in 1993 and "Chicken Little" in 2005, while showcasing dramatic range in films like 1999's "The Life Before This.”
Her greatest accolade came as Moira Rose in "Schitt's Creek," a character she meticulously crafted with an exaggerated accent and invented vocabulary to convey a woman desperate to prove her exceptional nature. The role earned her a Golden Globe, two SAG Awards, and an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress.
In her final years, O'Hara took on compelling roles that showcased her enduring versatility. She served as Seth Rogen's reluctant executive mentor on "The Studio" and delivered a dramatic performance as a therapist on HBO's "The Last of Us," with both projects earning her Emmy nominations and bringing her career total to 10.
Throughout her career, O'Hara supported various charitable causes, including Upward Bound House, a Los Angeles organization addressing homelessness, for which she won $250,000 on the 2020 season of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
O'Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch, sons Matthew and Luke, and siblings Michael O'Hara, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus O'Hara, Tom O'Hara, and Patricia Wallice.