Catherine O’Hara died yesterday, ending the life and career of one of the most celebrated comedic performers of both the 20th and the 21st centuries. It’s no surprise, then, that tributes to O’Hara have been flowing freely all weekend, from fans as well as the numerous people who’ve shared the stage with her over the years, as the casts of SCTV, Schitt’s Creek, Home Alone, Apple TV+’s recent The Studio, and more have stepped forward to share memories and fond feelings toward their friend and co-star. (Apple itself, meanwhile, is clearly having to adjust a few things in the wake of the unfortunate news; The Studio was scheduled for a panel at the company’s big press day for its various TV shows next week, but THR reports that that portion of the event has now been canceled. At the same time, shooting on the show’s second season had reportedly just begun less than two weeks ago, so it remains to be seen how creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg will adjust things now that O’Hara, who played movie executive Patty Leigh in the series, is gone.)
Many of the tributes stretched all the way back to O’Hara’s start on SCTV, with Andrea Martin memorializing her friend as “the greatest,” while Martin Short took out time during a comedy show with Steve Martin in Austin this weekend to toast his old friend. “Catherine O’Hara,” Short began. “I met her when she was 18 years of age, and all these years later, she’s been the greatest, most brilliant, kindest, sweetest angel that any of us worked with.” (Steve Martin didn’t chime in in that particular moment, merely clinking glasses respectfully—although his presence did put us in mind of an old Letterman clip that the host’s social media resurfaced as a tribute yesterday, in which O’Hara charmingly noted that she’d biffed an audition for Martin’s 1984 film The Lonely Guy because she’d been too distracted by how “cute” he was.)
Short’s comments were reflected by Eugene Levy, who starred with O’Hara in numerous productions dating all the way back to their Second City days. “Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today,” Levy wrote in a statement. “I had the honor of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over fifty years. From our beginnings on the Second City stage, to SCTV, to the movies we did with Chris Guest, to our six glorious years on Schitt’s Creek, I cherished our working relationship, but most of all our friendship. And I will miss her. My heart goes out to Bo, Matthew, Luke, and the entire O’Hara family.” (O’Hara was married for 34 years to production designer Bo Welch, who she met on the set of Beetlejuice in 1988; the pair had two children.) Levy’s words were echoed by the rest of the Schitt’s cast, including Annie Murphy, Chris Elliott, and Levy’s son Dan, who wrote, “What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years… Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family.”
Numerous co-stars from O’Hara’s films also chimed in, including Home Alone‘s Macaulay Culkin (“Mama. 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”), Beetlejuice‘s Michael Keaton (“We go back before the first Beetlejuice. She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend. This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her”), and Christopher Guest himself (“I am devastated. We have lost one of the comic giants of our age. I send my love to her family”).
Both Apple and The Studio cast and crew released their own statements about O’Hara this weekend, with the tech giant writing (in a joint statement with Lionsgate), “We are all heartbroken by the loss of Catherine O’Hara. An undeniable legend, icon, and incomparable talent, Catherine elevated every project she was a part of, including the singular genius she brought to her role on The Studio, and every transcendent performance she gifted to us.” O’Hara’s more direct co-workers on the series, meanwhile, wrote, “We are at a loss for words at the passing of our friend Catherine O’Hara. She was a hero to all of us, and we pinched ourselves every day that we got to work with her on The Studio. She was somehow classy, warm, and hilarious all at the same time. We’re unbelievably saddened she is gone and send our deepest sympathy to Bo and all her family.”
O’Hara died on Friday, January 30, after what’s been described as a “short illness.”