Catherine O’Hara, actor known for Schitt’s Creek, Home Alone and Best in Show, has died at the age of 71.
Her manager confirmed the news to Variety. She died after a brief illness.
O’Hara started her comedy career in the 1970s and helped to create the Canadian sketch show SCTV. She broke into film in the 1980s with her first big screen credit in romantic comedy Nothing Personal with Donald Sutherland and in 1985 she had a role in Martin Scorsese’s black comedy After Hours.
In 1988, O’Hara starred in Tim Burton’s comedy horror Beetlejuice and later reprised the role in the 2024 sequel. O’Hara played Macaulay Culkin’s careless mother in smash hit 1990 comedy Home Alone, a role she also reprised for the 1992 sequel.
She began working with Christopher Guest in 1996, starring in mockumentary Waiting for Guffman and starred in three more of his films: Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration.
O’Hara also provided her voice for many animated films including Chicken Little, Over the Hedge, Monster House, Frankenweenie and, most recently, The Wild Robot.
Catherine O’Hara in Schitt’s Creek Photograph: AP
On the small screen, she had roles in The Larry Sanders Show, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm and 30 Rock before she reunited with another Guest actor, Eugene Levy, for the hit sitcom Schitt’s Creek.
“It’s always more fun working with someone you know,” she said to the Guardian in 2021. “I get too nervous doing solo bits – it’s too much pressure and it feels like showing off. With someone else, you can share the showing off.”
The show, about a wealthy family who are forced to downsize, ran for six seasons and won O’Hara an Emmy award.
“I’m always drawn to characters who have no idea of the impression they’re making on other people,” she said in 2021. “We’re all delusional, really, and I love that about us humans and I love playing it.”
O’Hara had recently been seen in the award-winning comedy series The Studio with Seth Rogen. The role had garnered her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
More details soon …