Catherine O’Hara, the prolific and beloved comedic actress known for her memorable roles in Schitt’s Creek, Home Alone, and Beetlejuice, has died. She was 71.
Her representatives confirmed that O’Hara passed away at her home in Los Angeles on Friday, January 30, 2026, following a brief illness. A statement released by her agency, CAA, requested privacy for her family during this difficult time.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1954, O’Hara began her career in the 1970s with the improvisational comedy troupe The Second City. She first gained widespread recognition as a key cast member and writer for the sketch comedy series SCTV (Second City Television), where she worked alongside fellow legends such as John Candy and Eugene Levy. Her writing on the show earned her a Primetime Emmy Award in 1982.
O’Hara’s film career was defined by a series of eccentric and scene-stealing performances. In 1988, she starred as Delia Deetz in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, a role that introduced her unique comedic style to a broader audience. However, she became a fixture in pop culture as Kate McCallister, the frantic mother who accidentally leaves her son behind, in the 1990 global blockbuster Home Alone and its 1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, O’Hara became a staple of Christopher Guest’s mockumentary films. Her improvisational skills were showcased in movies such as Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.
In the later stages of her career, O’Hara achieved renewed critical and commercial success playing the theatrically dramatic matriarch Moira Rose in the sitcom Schitt’s Creek (2015–2020). Starring opposite her longtime collaborator Eugene Levy, O’Hara’s performance became a cultural phenomenon, earning her a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2020.
O’Hara is survived by her husband, production designer Bo Welch, whom she met on the set of Beetlejuice and married in 1992, as well as their two sons, Matthew and Luke.
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