Beloved Canadian actress Catherine O’Hara has passed away after a brief illness at the age of 71. Catherine was known for her work in television and on screen in Home Alone, Schitt’s Creek, Beetlejuice, Best in Show and more. I’ll always think of her as Moira from Schitt’s Creek – she is unparalleled and no one else else could play that role. I’m so shocked and saddened by this. Catherine is survived by her husband of 34 years, Bo Welch, and their sons Matthew and Luke Welch, both of whom work in set design. Here is more, from People:
Catherine O’Hara has died.
The Canadian actress’s manager confirmed to PEOPLE on Friday, Jan. 30, that the comedy icon, known for roles in films like Beetlejuice, Home Alone and Christopher Guest mockumentaries like Best in Show, died at age 71. No further details were shared.
TMZ was the first to report the news about the Schitt’s Creek star.
O’Hara was born in Toronto in 1954. She was the second youngest of seven children; her father worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and her mother was a real estate agent. Her first acting gig was portraying the Virgin Mary in a Nativity play. After graduating from high school, she got a job as a waitress at the Second City Theater in Toronto…
Her film debut was 1980’s Double Negative, which also featured Levy and other SCTV costars like Flaherty and John Candy. Next, she appeared in Martin Scorsese’s 1985 black comedy After Hours and 1986’s Heartburn. In 1988, she had a role in Beetlejuice as Delia Deetz, the stepmother of Winona Ryder’s Lydia. O’Hara reprised her role in the 2024 sequel Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.
In 1990, she was cast in Home Alone as the harried mom of Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin. “It’s a perfect movie, isn’t it?” she reflected to PEOPLE in 2024. “I need to care about the whole thing,” she said of how she chooses projects. “I don’t care to do a great role in a bad project. You want to be part of something good, and that’s how you go.” She reprised her role for 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
Other major roles for O’Hara in the ‘90s included 1993’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, in which she voiced Sally, and 1994’s Wyatt Earp.
In 1996, she appeared in her first Guest mockumentary, Waiting for Guffman. She would also appear in 2000’s Best in Show and 2003’s A Mighty Wind, in which she and Levy sang together. PEOPLE called the actress the “gifted queen of the bittersweet” in a review of 2006’s For Your Consideration, another collaboration with Guest.
In 2015, she teamed up with Levy once again for Schitt’s Creek, created by his son Dan. It was not the first time she and Levy played characters who were romantically involved. Of their long working relationship, she told PEOPLE at the time, “I would love to think we continue to challenge each other, like a good married couple would do.”
In 2020, she won the Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for the role. “I will forever be grateful to Eugene and Daniel Levy for the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age, my age, who gets to fully be herself,” she said in part during her speech. She also won a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for the series.
This one hits like a gut punch. She had such a vibrant personality and she was a massive talent. No one will ever replace her. We are thinking of her friends and family at this time.
This is my favorite Catherine O’Hara scene – the banana boat dance from Beetlejuice.
photos credit: Avalon.red
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