Canadian-born actress Catherine O’Hara has died at the age of 71, her management agency said on Friday.
O’Hara was an Emmy-winner who starred in the series “Schitt’s Creek” and the movie “Home Alone.” She also starred in the movie “Beetlejuice” and the Hollywood satire show “The Studio.”
The management agency said O’Hara died at her home in Los Angeles “following a brief illness.”
According to US entertainment news outlet Page Six, O’Hara was rushed to a hospital before dawn from her home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles.
The cause of death remains unknown.
“I join Canadians and fans across the world in mourning the loss of Catherine O’Hara,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on X, as condolences poured in.
“Over 5 decades of work, Catherine earned her place in the canon of Canadian comedy,” he added.
Second City and then Hollywood
O’Hara launched her career with the Second City comedy group in Toronto in the 1970s. She was part of the original cast of the sketch show “SCTV,” short for “Second City Television.”
That series, which began on Canadian TV in the 1970s and later aired in the US, would win her an Emmy for her writing on the show.
O’Hara then gave movies a shot, playing oddball supporting characters in Martin Scorsese’s 1985 “After Hours” and Tim Burton’s 1988 “Beetlejuice.”
She played the mother who accidentally abandoned her child in the two wildly popular “Home Alone” movies, which were among the biggest box office hits of the early 1990s and would later become staples of the Christmas movie genre.
‘Schitts Creek’ brought career renaissance for O’Hara
O’Hara received further acclaim for her lead performance in the award-winning comedy series “Schitt’s Creek,” a career-capping triumph.
The series was created by O’Hara’s long-time collaborator Eugene Levy and his son Dan. The story follows a wealthy family facing financial ruin and forced to live in a small town, where O’Hara plays Moira Rose.
The character brought O’Hara a new generation of fans. O’Hara reflected on her own fame in an interview with US entertainment magazine People.
“I used to mostly get people named Kevin who’d come up to me and ask me to yell ‘Kevin!’ in their faces,” O’Hara said, in reference to her famous line in the movie “Home Alone.”
“Now it’s mostly about (her character) Moira and ‘Schitt’s Creek.’ I’ve never gotten this kind of attention in my life. It’s crazy,” she added.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
