Catherine O’Hara, Celebrated Star of Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone, Dies at 71
Catherine O’Hara, the Emmy-winning Canadian actress beloved for her iconic roles in Schitt’s Creek, Home Alone, and Beetlejuice, has died at the age of 71. Her talent agency, CAA, confirmed that O’Hara passed away at her home in Los Angeles on Friday, January 30, following a brief illness.
While unverified rumors of her death had circulated on social media earlier in the week—initially dismissed by many as part of a recurring trend of celebrity death hoaxes—her representatives have definitively confirmed that this report is factual. The official statement from her management has clarified the situation, ending speculation and prompting a wave of genuine mourning across the entertainment industry.
Born in Toronto in 1954, O’Hara began her career as a breakout star of the sketch comedy show Second City Television (SCTV), where she established her long-standing creative partnership with Eugene Levy. She gained international fame playing Kate McCallister, the frantic but loving mother in the Home Alone franchise, and the eccentric sculptor Delia Deetz in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. In the latter stages of her career, she achieved a new level of cultural impact with her portrayal of Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek. Her performance as the vocabulary-loving, wig-wearing matriarch earned her a Primetime Emmy Award in 2020 and cemented her status as a comedic legend.
Tributes from friends and former co-stars have been immediate and emotional. Macaulay Culkin, who played her son Kevin in Home Alone, posted a tribute saying, “Mama. I thought we had time.” Her Schitt’s Creek creator and co-star Dan Levy described her as “extended family” and a “brilliant” talent who shaped his life. O’Hara is survived by her husband, production designer Bo Welch, whom she married in 1992, and their two sons, Matthew and Luke.
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