Catherine O’Hara, the Canadian actress known for her work across decades of film and television, has sadly passed away, age 71. O’Hara is most famous for her roles in Home Alone, the television series Schitt’s Creek, several Christopher Guest mockumentaries like Best in Show, and the two Beetlejuice films. The original report of her passing comes from Variety. No cause of death was given as of yet. She has received several awards over her fifty years in show business. These include two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Catherine O’Hara began her career in the Canadian comedy sketch series SCTV, which she starred in from 1976 to 1984. She then transitioned to acting roles in films, such as After Hours. In 1988, she starred in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice as the kooky stepmother of Winona Ryder, Delia Deetz. But it was in 1990’s Home Alone, playing Macaulay Culkin’s mother, that she truly became a household name. She did a tremendous amount of voice acting, such as in The Nightmare Before Christmas, and most recently, Elemental. It was during the ’90s that she began starring in Christopher Guest’s improv-style mockumentary films, starting with Waiting for Guffman.
In 2015, she received a huge career resurgence thanks to her role as Moira Rose in the comedy series Schitt’s Creek. It was in this series that she starred alongside her frequent collaborator Eugene Levy. For playing family matriarch Moira on the beloved series, she received an Emmy and a Golden Globe. Even though she was mostly famous for her comedic roles, she could still pack in a serious performance. And she did so in season two of HBO’s The Last of Us. She leaves behind her husband, Hollywood production designer Bo Welch, and their two children, sons Matthew and Luke. She also leaves behind a metric ton of fans, who laughed at her every genius line delivery in decades of projects.