Jan 31, 2026
3 min read
Catherine O'Hara, the comedic actress celebrated for her work on "SCTV," "Schitt's Creek" and the Christopher Guest films, has died.
Catherine O'Hara, the best comedian from 'SCTV' to 'Schitt's Creek', dies at the age of 71.
Catherine O'Hara, the comedic actress best known for her work on SCTV, films such as Home Alone and Best In Show and the hit sitcom Schitt's Creek, died today at her home in Los Angeles.He was 71 years old.
O'Hare's representative confirmed his death to Rolling Stone, adding that he died after a brief and unspecified illness.
Along with Martin Short, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner and Eugene Levy, O'Hara is one of the most famous actors to come out of the Toronto comedy group Second City.In 1982, her work on the group's hit sketch show SCTV won her an Emmy Award for writing. Decades later, she won Emmys, Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Critics' Choice Awards for her beloved roles as Moira Rose and Shit Creek.
Between SCTV and SCHITT's Creek, O'hara is known to the same movies and TV shows.For a lot of people, he is Kate Mccaleive, the mother of Kevin's mother's home is like it's the moments.O'hara is one of the movies of christopher geat, which is displayed in the famous music, like watering audio, and Might in shoes, and Might in Show.
Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2020, O'Hara credited her home country of Canada for instilling her sense of humor.Although O'Hara is often stereotyped as overly nice, he argued that Canadians "have a sense of humor not only about others, but also about themselves – which I think is the healthiest and best kind of humor."She continued: "And there's an edge to that – but compassion and love. With – but there's also a good, dark sense of humor to it because of the awareness of the world around you."
Born on March 4, 1954, Catherine Anne O'Hara grew up in Toronto, one of seven children in a fun-loving family.She told The New Yorker in a 2019 interview that "the fun in our family was very inspiring."
Admired by Rowan and Martin's antics as a child, he began performing in the improv troupe Second City in his 20s, meeting future colleagues such as Short and Levy.In 1976, O'Hara was part of the original cast of SCTV, which brought Second City to television and served as a looser, funnier version of Saturday Night Live, which had aired on American television the previous year.After winning stars like Elizabeth Taylor, SCTV allowed the world to see her giftO'Hara made her characters strong and powerful, so who did she choose to emulate
"When we do SCTV and someone says, 'What's up with this guy? Would you like to play them in a scene? Do you want to do them?' If I didn't like them, I wouldn't play," O'Hara recalled in a 2019 Vulture profile. "It takes up too much of my time and energy."
When SCTV ended its Emmy run in the mid-1980s, O'Hara began landing small parts in films like After Hours and Burning, working with heavyweight directors like Scorsese and Mike Nichols.But his first role in his first film was Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, in which he played an ambitious, artist, who moved into the house of Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis after their deaths.The horror comedy hit, which showcased her raw comedic energy, began a long working relationship with Burton that included future projects such as The Nightmare Before Christmas.
But Beetlejuice also led to her memorable turn in 1990's Home Alone, one of the great family films of its time.O'Hara became a generation of moviegoers' ideal of a lovable, heartwarming hero when she played the sweet mother of Macaulay Culkin's abusive son, Kevin.
"[Director] Chris Columbus and [writer] John Hughes didn't let me audition for the role of the mother in Home Alone," she told Vanity Fair in 2020. "I met them and I think I was very close to the character - or they just ignored how I was in the meeting and hired me anyway.
In the mid-1990s, he teamed up with fellow ace developer Christopher Guest and his old friend Levi to star in Waiting for Guffman.In the beloved mockumentary, she played a travel agent married to Fred Willard, and the two will star in a new musical about a macabre small town known as Red, White and Blaine.Guest reunited most of the cast of Waiting for Guffman for the 2000 film Best in Show, a hilarious look at the lives of dog owners determined to win the top prize at a dog show.O'Hara and Levy portrayed a married couple going through difficult times that was not only very funny, but also so endearing that viewers rooted for these adorable little ones.
O'Hara continues to make guest appearances as the impossibly self-centered, happily deluded Moira Rose, a one-time soap star who can't come to terms with her family's changing fortunes.O'Hara 2020won an Emmy along with the 1982writing credits on SCTV.And they reminded us once again that she excels at vocal riffs.Moira was a tightly controlled reef and one of O'Hara's most important achievements.
"The outside always helps me feel like someone else," she told Vulture when explaining how she portrays her Shit's Creek character."For Moira, I did hair, makeup, and clothes. They made me stand and walk differently. I interpreted those voices as souvenirs from my travels around the world. I take a piece of every person I've met in the world and share it with you."
O'Hara would later receive an Emmy nomination in 2025 for her work at The Studio and The US, recognizing her ability to play both comedy and drama.But from a young age when she enjoyed making her father laugh while making videos, O'Hara looked to laugh, especially when working with people she admired on stage or in front of the camera.
"When you work with collaborative, friendly and talented people, you feel safe," she said in an interview with Parade in 2024. "You know that no one is afraid to reject an idea and has a sincere goal to make the project as good as possible. My training was also in front of a live audience that did not hold a phone on stage and they could easily tell their friends and family.
