Actress Catherine O’Hara, who died from a pulmonary embolism in January at age 71, was posthumously awarded the Outstanding Female Actor in a Comedy award on Sunday. Her co-star from The Studio, Seth Rogen, barely left a dry eye in the house when he accepted the award on her behalf.
At Sunday’s Actor Awards, Rogen took the opportunity to tell a story he’d never shared before about the Beetlejuice actress.
“I haven’t said this to the other actors because I didn’t want them to get ideas,” Rogen began, “but pretty much every evening before she had a shooting day on our show, she would email me and Evan [Goldberg] an email that always was pretty similar. It said, ‘Hello, I hope you’ll consider the following.’ And then there would be a completely rewritten version of the scene she was in.”
Rogen became emotional while talking about Catherine O’Hara on stage at the Actor Awards on Sunday. Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
“Literally, one hundred percent of the time, it made not just her character better, but it made the scene better and the entire show better as a whole,” Rogen continued. “She really showed that you can be a genius and be kind, and one of those things does not have to come at the expense of the other in any way, shape, or form.”
O’Hara was set to appear in Season 2 of “The Studio” before her death in January. Frazer Harrison/WireImage
O’Hara was a key part of Apple TV+’s Season 1 of the series, on which she played veteran executive Patty Leigh, who was based on former Sony Pictures head Amy Pascal. She was set to appear in Season 2 until her death in January.
The series also won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, Best Actor in a Comedy Series, making it the show with the most victories Sunday night.
O’Hara posthumously won the award for outstanding female actress in a comedy series on Sunday. Unique Nicole/WireImage
O’Hara left behind her husband of 34 years, production designer Bo Welch, and two sons, Matthew, 32, and Luke, 29.
The Canadian-born star was also known for her more recent role in Schitt’s Creek, as well as her turns in Best in Show and the Home Alone franchise. She also reprised her role as Delia Deetz in 2024’s Beetlejuice sequel.
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