Hollywood legend Catherine O’Hara dead at 71 following brief illness

Canada-native comedy legend was also known for 'SCTV,' 'Best in Show' and 'The Studio'

Catherine O’Hara, the beloved Canadian comedic actor, has died. She was 71.

Although she played a wide variety of characters in a career that spanned five decades, she was perhaps best known for playing mothers. She played Macaulay Culkin’s character Kevin’s mother, Kate McCallister, in the first two Home Alone films — spawning the viral “Kevin!” meme — before going on to play matriarch Moira Rose in hit TV series Schitt’s Creek.

She died Friday in Los Angeles following a brief illness, her manager told Variety. A cause of death has not been reported.

Culkin was among those leading the tributes to his late co-star, writing on Instagram: “Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more.”

Also paying his respects was Pedro Pascal, who worked with O’Hara in The Last of Us. He wrote: “Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always.”

O’Hara recently earned Emmy nominations for her work on The Last of Us and The Studio — the ninth and tenth of her career.

Born in Toronto on March 4, 1954, O’Hara was the sixth of seven children. In 1974 she joined the cast of The Second City in Toronto, the improv comedy troupe that also helped launch the careers of John Candy, Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner.

O’Hara most recently appeared on Seth Rogen’s AppleTV series ‘The Studio’ (2025 Invision)

O’Hara played Kate McCallister in the first two Home Alone films (Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock)

In 1976, the company launched SCTV, a televised sketch comedy show, and O’Hara became a regular performer. After the show was picked up by NBC for broadcast in the U.S. it became known as SCTV Network 90, and O’Hara won her first Emmy in 1982 for Outstanding Writing on an episode titled “Moral Majority Show”.

After several other TV and film roles, O’Hara appeared in the 1988 hit film Beetlejuice as Delia, a role she would reprise decades later in the 2024 film Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. She then landed the role of the McCallister matriarch in the first Home Alone film in 1990. She reprised her role in the 1992 sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

O’Hara appeared in films including After Hours (1985), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), and For Your Consideration (2006), and television series such as Committed, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Glenn Martin DDS, 30 Rock, and Modern Family.

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She also lent her voice to several notable films and series, including Chicken Little (2005), Brother Bear 2 (2006), and Skylanders Academy (2016).

Catherine O'Hara won her second Emmy for playing Moira Rose on ‘Schitt’s Creek’ (Pop TV via AP)

O'Hara died following a brief illness (AFP via Getty)

In 2015, O’Hara debuted as eccentric former TV star Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek. For 80 episodes alongside cast members Dan and Eugene Levy and Annie Murphy, O’Hara would win over a new generation of fans — and nab her second Emmy in 2020.

During her Emmys acceptance speech, held during the Covid-19 pandemic O’Hara said: “I will forever be grateful to Eugene and Daniel Levy for bestowing upon me the opportunity to play a woman of a certain age, my age, who gets to fully be her ridiculous self.”

O’Hara met her husband, Bo Welch, on the set of Beetlejuice in 1987. They wed in 1992 and have welcomed two sons, Matthew and Luke.