Toronto-born comedy legend Catherine O’Hara has died at 71, her agency confirmed on Friday.
The Home Alone and Beetlejuice actor died at her home in Los Angeles “following a brief illness,” Creative Artists Agency told The Globe and Mail. A representative for the Los Angeles Fire Department said first responders were dispatched to Ms. O’Hara’s home at 4:48 a.m. Friday, when a woman her age was found in “serious condition.” No further details were provided.
Ms. O’Hara, who was honoured with the Order of Canada in 2017 and a Governor-General’s Performing Arts lifetime achievement award in 2021, got her start in comedy at Second City Toronto, eventually joining the troupe’s cast and television spinoff, SCTV.
She soon found success in Hollywood with a series of iconic roles, frequently collaborating with writer-director Christopher Guest for fan-favourite roles in For Your Consideration, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind.
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In her later years, Ms. O’Hara skyrocketed to a new level of fame as Moira Rose in the CBC comedy Schitt’s Creek, for which she starred with lifelong friend and colleague Eugene Levy. She also recently appeared on Apple TV’s The Studio, a Hollywood-set comedy series produced by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen.
As news of the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor’s passing broke on Friday, numerous colleagues, politicians, arts institutions and high-profile Canadians shared their condolences.
“What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance,” Dan Levy wrote on Instagram late Friday.
Given Ms. O’Hara’s collaboration of over 50 years with his father, Eugene Levy, “Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family,” he said.
“It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it.”
A joint statement to The Globe and Mail from the cast and producers of The Studio, which recently became the most Emmy-winning freshman comedy in history with 13 awards, and was the last TV role for Ms. O’Hara, described her as a hero.
“We pinched ourselves every day that we got to work with her,” the showrunners wrote. “She was somehow classy, warm, and hilarious all at the same time.”
Macaulay Culkin, who played Ms. O’Hara’s onscreen son in the blockbuster Home Alone movies, shared two photos of the pair taken several decades apart. “Mama,” he wrote in an emotional Instagram post, “I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later.”
The duo had become so close during the filming of their 1990 and 1992 movies that he called her his movie mom well after filming wrapped up, Mr. Culkin’s agents told The Globe. Between takes, Ms. O’Hara would often check up on Mr. Culkin, who was only 9 at the time of the first movie, and they remained in touch over the years.
Lauded Canadian comedian Cathy Jones described Ms. O’Hara, her contemporary, as one of the greatest actors of all time in the genre.
“All of Canada mourns with her beautiful family,” she told The Globe in a statement. “They broke the mould when they made Catherine O’Hara – what a deeply beautiful, generous, funny person.”
“We go way back,” wrote actor Michael Keaton on Instagram. He worked with Ms. O’Hara on multiple occasions, including her final on-screen theatrical role in a movie, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in 2024. “She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real-life true friend. This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her.”
Second City’s chief executive Ed Wells said the “brilliant performer” was one of the organization’s first alumni to serve on its artistic advisory board, mentoring the next generation of comedians. “She was also a wonderful human who gave back to the community,” he said in a statement.
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Sally Catto, CBC’s general manager of entertainment, factual and sports content, said the broadcaster is devastated about the icon’s death. “With her passing, a light has gone out,” she wrote in an e-mail.
Canadian singer Michael Bublé called Ms. O’Hara “a rare light in this world” on social media, adding that she was “an ambassador for Canada in the truest sense: brilliant, fearless, deeply original, and so full of humanity.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed. “Canada has lost a legend,” he said in a statement, as the Ottawa-based National Arts Centre and other institutions lowered their flags to half-mast in honour of Ms. O’Hara’s legacy.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said he was saddened, too. “She brought joy and laughter to generations of Canadians and showed the best of Canadian talent to audiences around the world,” he wrote on X.
Author Paul Myers, who spoke to Ms. O’Hara for his recent book, John Candy: A Life in Comedy, said he constantly hears from comedians who were inspired by her. Speaking with The Globe, he recalled a conversation with Ms. O’Hara, at the end of which he “blurted out: ‘You’re my hero.’ ”
Ms. O’Hara laughed, then thanked him. “It was an awkward moment, but I’m so glad I got to tell her that,” Mr. Myers said.
“She was one of the few comedy performers who improved the material just by showing up,” Yuk Yuk’s comedy club impresario Mark Breslin said in an e-mail, adding that she was one of the rare actors whose later work was equal to her earlier work.
Ms. O’Hara leaves her husband, Bo Welch, sons Matthew and Luke, and siblings Michael O’Hara, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus O’Hara, Tom O’Hara and Patricia Wallice.
With reports from Brad Wheeler, Marsha Lederman, J. Kelly Nestruck and The Associated Press