From Schitt's Creek to Home Alone, here are five of Catherine O'Hara's greatest performances

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From iconic skits and impressions to films we rewatch again and again, Catherine O’Hara put on no shortage of star-making performances in her career.

The Toronto-born comedian and actor, who died Friday at 71, was a trailblazer in Canadian comedy whose quick wit and subversive sense of humour made her a household name in this country and beyond.

But as her many fans and the acting world mourn her loss, it’s clear there could never be enough of Ms. O’Hara on our screens. Here are five of her greatest performances to remember – or discover – her talent.

SCTV (1976 to 1984)

(YouTube)

Ms. O’Hara joined Toronto’s Second City improv troupe at the age of 20 in 1974, but the launch of SCTV two years later made her a star of the screen. Ms. O’Hara was known for gently but deftly skewering the shallow sincerity of showbiz folk with her irreverent celebrity impressions (Tammy Faye Bakker or Jane Fonda, anyone?) and in her subversive original sketches, winning her a Primetime Emmy in 1982.

When she took a leap and left the show in 1983, before SCTV was done airing, a Globe journalist lamented the massive loss. Anyone who looks up Ms. O’Hara’s chaotic impression of Katharine Hepburn in an ad for “Twillings Tea” will find the kind of over-the-top but exacting mimicry that made her irreplaceable.

Beetlejuice (1988)

(Crave)

It could have been easy to fade into the background with such a tremendous cast, but Ms. O’Hara’s portrayal of eccentric stepmother Delia Deetz remains one of the highlights of Tim Burton’s 1988 classic.

Obsessed with remodelling their old (and very haunted) home with her gaudy sculptures, Ms. O’Hara’s Delia adds a rare villain role to her filmography. Her best scene? The legendary lip-sync to Day-O at the dinner table, where Ms. O’Hara’s whole performance is within her panicked eyes.

Home Alone (1990)

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(Disney+)

“Kevin!” Ms. O’Hara has a catalogue of iconic lines in her repertoire, but this may be her most universally known. It’s the panicked cry of a mother who realizes she’s left her youngest son, Kevin McCallister, home alone (not once, but twice, fainting like a plank in the sequel). Ms. O’Hara introduced the line to a new generation in 2020, perfectly recreating the same incredulity and wide-eyed shock in a video posted to social media. As Kate McCallister, Ms. O’Hara was the films’ emotional anchor, embarking on a cross-country odyssey to reunite with her son, oblivious to the hijinks he was unleashing on two blundering burglars.

Ms. O’Hara’s relationship with child star Macaulay Culkin extended well past the film releases in 1990 and 1992, with Ms. O’Hara giving a speech at Mr. Culkin’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in 2023. In a tribute posted Friday, Mr. Culkin addressed her as “Mama” and said, “I thought we had time.”

Best in Show (2000)

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(Crave)

“That is the one and only time I’ve ever done it on a roller coaster.” Ms. O’Hara and Eugene Levy are a comedy match made in heaven, and nowhere is that more evident than in 2000’s Best in Show. Mr. Levy and Ms. O’Hara play married couple Gerry and Cookie Fleck, who travel to enter their dog Winky in a prestigious dog show as a documentary crew tags along.

But during the trip, dorky husband Gerry (who, quite literally, has two left feet) discovers that his wife has a storied past filled with many, many men. Ms. O’Hara, flirting with her character’s former lovers as Gerry squirms, steals the show in a cast filled to the brim with stars.

Schitt’s Creek

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(CBC Gem, Netflix)

“Take 1,000 naked pictures of yourself!” This is among the most iconic morsels of wisdom imparted by Moira Rose, but you could argue Ms. O’Hara deserves an award for virtually every line of her performance in the Emmy-winning CBC sitcom.

Reuniting opposite Mr. Levy, who co-created the series with his son Dan, Ms. O’Hara played the former soap-opera star and matriarch of a wealthy family who has gone bankrupt, forced to move to the titular backwater town they somehow still own.

As Moira, Ms. O’Hara embodied the show’s sublime ridiculousness with her theatrics, an unplaceable accent and pronunciations that have permanently changed the English language (Team Bébé forever). Each episode is funnier than the last, but if you really need a laugh, turn on Season 6, episode seven, and raise a glass of “Moira Rosé” to Ms. O’Hara’s comic genius.

With a report from Johanna Schneller