Catherine O’Hara, the beloved actress whose five-decade career spanned sketch comedy, film, television, and voice work, has died. She was 71. Her manager confirmed the news, and her agency said O’Hara passed away Friday at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness.
Born March 4, 1954, in Toronto, O’Hara emerged as a foundational figure of modern sketch comedy as a member of the legendary Second City Television ensemble. The show helped launch the careers of John Candy, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin, Harold Ramis, and others, with O’Hara earning an Emmy in 1982 for her work on the series. She would go on to receive eight additional Emmy nominations across acting and writing categories.
O’Hara joined Toronto’s Second City company at age 20, initially serving as an understudy to Gilda Radner before moving into the main cast. When SCTV launched in 1976, O’Hara quickly distinguished herself with characters that balanced sharp satire and emotional nuance. NBC later brought the series to U.S. audiences, cementing its place in comedy history.
In film, O’Hara became widely known as Kate McCallister, the frantic yet devoted mother in the first two Home Alone films, opposite Macaulay Culkin.
She also memorably portrayed Delia Deetz in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, a role she reprised decades later in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Her collaborations with Christopher Guest in Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration further showcased her mastery of character-driven comedy.
O’Hara also lent her voice to animated classics, including The Nightmare Before Christmas and Chicken Little, and earned an Emmy nomination for her supporting role in HBO’s Temple Grandin.
A career renaissance arrived with Schitt’s Creek, co-created by Eugene Levy and Dan Levy. O’Hara’s performance as Moira Rose, a former soap star navigating sudden poverty, became one of television’s most celebrated comedic roles. She won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2020, as the show swept the major comedy categories.
Reflecting on the show’s success, O’Hara told The Hollywood Reporter after her 2020 nomination, “There’s so many projects that get a ton of attention right at the beginning, maybe before they’re even quite ready for it, and then it’s kind of downhill attention-wise from there. We’re so lucky to do the show we wanted and, apparently, leaving people wanting more. I’m happy to be a late bloomer, I always have been in my life and I’m grateful for it.”
In recent years, O’Hara appeared in HBO’s The Last of Us and Apple TV+’s The Studio, earning Emmy nominations for both. Her role as deposed studio executive Patty Leigh in The Studio marked what would become her final series performance. She had been set to continue the role as the show’s second season began filming earlier this month.
Though born in Canada, O’Hara became a beloved presence in Los Angeles, where she was named honorary mayor of Brentwood in 2021.
She is survived by her husband, production designer 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 leaves behind an extraordinary legacy defined by intelligence, generosity of spirit, and comic brilliance, and remains one of the most influential and admired performers of her generation.
Rest in Power.
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