For Chicago, Catherine O’Hara will always have a special place in the family. The late actress, whose career stretched from SCTV to Schitt’s Creek, was honored during Monday night’s 78th Emmy Awards by three of her most famous on-screen children: Macaulay Culkin, Dan Levy and Annie Murphy.
But for Chicago audiences, Culkin’s appearance carried an extra emotional charge. More than three decades ago, he and O’Hara became one of movie history’s most memorable mother-and-son pairings in Home Alone, the John Hughes-penned holiday classic shot throughout the Chicago area.
Culkin, who played Kevin McCallister opposite O’Hara’s Kate McCallister, fought back emotion as he remembered the actress who remained part of his life long after they left the McCallister house behind.
“There are all kinds of words I could use to describe Catherine,” Culkin said. “She was encouraging, she was warm, she was funny, but the word that I think of is ‘mama.’”
He continued by noting that O’Hara wasn’t only a wife to husband Bo Welch and mother to sons Matthew and Luke. “She was my mom. She was our mama, and by extension, she’s all of our mama,” Culkin said.
For anyone from Chicago, the image is instantly recognizable: O’Hara as Kate McCallister desperately trying to get back to Kevin after accidentally leaving him behind in Winnetka. The 1990 film was deeply embedded in the Chicago area, with the McCallister home filmed at 671 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka, along with other locations in Wilmette, Oak Park, and at O’Hare International Airport. Production also used the former New Trier West campus for interior sets.
And Culkin couldn’t resist acknowledging the famous premise. “She may have forgotten me twice,” he joked, “but we will always remember her.”
He also urged viewers to call their mothers, recalling that O’Hara kept showing up for him whenever he asked.
Culkin was joined by O’Hara’s Schitt’s Creek children, Levy and Murphy, who played David and Alexis, Rose.
Murphy remembered O’Hara’s unmistakable laugh and the emotional response she encountered from fans after the actress’ death. Levy focused on the creative fearlessness that transformed Moira Rose into one of television’s great comic characters.
“The greatest lesson I learned from Catherine, both professionally and personally, was to always say yes,” Levy said, recalling how O’Hara would push ideas further, including Moira’s towering wigs, outrageous wardrobe and singular accent, rather than play things safe.
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O’Hara died Jan. 30 at age 71. Her career spanned more than five decades, beginning with Second City Television and eventually including films such as Beetlejuice, Best in Show, and the Home Alone franchise, along with her Emmy-winning turn as Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek. The Television Academy lists her among the defining comedy performers and writers of her generation.
She won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2020 for Schitt’s Creek, the same year the series swept all seven major comedy categories during the telecast.
The tribute opened the Emmys’ In Memoriam segment, which continued with Noah Kahan performing Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water.
But Culkin’s words brought O’Hara’s legacy back to something much simpler than awards or iconic performances.
To millions, she was Moira Rose, a fearless improviser, an SCTV original, and one of the funniest actors ever to appear on television.
In Chicago, Catherine O’Hara will also forever be the mother racing through airports, hitching a ride with John Candy and doing everything she could to get back to a little boy waiting in Winnetka.
And to Macaulay Culkin, she was simply “mama.”
