Catherine O’Hara—the Canadian-American actress, comedian, and screenwriter whose performances in movies and television shows including Home Alone, Best in Show, Beetlejuice, and Schitt’s Creek left an indelible mark on American comedy—is dead at 71. A representative for her manager’s office confirmed O’Hara’s death from a brief illness to the New York Times on Friday.
O’Hara began her comedy career as a member of the legendary Second City in her native Toronto, understudying for eventual Saturday Night Live star Gilda Radner and helping to form the offshoot Second City Television (SCTV). After a brief stint of her own at Saturday Night Live, O’Hara went on to win an Emmy for her work as a writer on SCTV. She later guest-starred on hit shows including Six Feet Under and Curb Your Enthusiasm, earning another Emmy—as well as Satellite and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations—for her role in the 2010 TV movie Temple Grandin.
O’Hara’s film career is most closely associated with director Christopher Guest, and her performances in his films Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006). Yet throughout the 1980s and ’90s she also appeared in era-defining comedies such as Beetlejuice (1988), Home Alone (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).
Perhaps the most lauded role in O’Hara’s storied career was her performance as the eccentric former soap-star matriarch Moira Rose on the CBC comedy Schitt’s Creek, in which she reunited with longtime collaborator Eugene Levy. O’Hara won dozens of awards for her interpretation of Rose, including an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Critics’ Choice Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and six Canadian Screen Awards for best lead actress in a comedy series.
“For Moira, I get my hair done, I get my makeup, I get those clothes on. They make me stand differently and walk differently. I explain the voice as souvenirs from all my world travel,” O’Hara told Vulture in 2019. “I’ve taken a bit of all the people I’ve met in the world and I’m sharing it with you.”
Most recently, O’Hara starred in 2024’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Apple TV+’s award-winning comedy The Studio, as well as making a featured appearance on HBO’s The Last of Us.
She is survived by her husband, Oscar- and Emmy-nominated production designer Bo Welch (whom she met on the set of Beetlejuice and married in 1992), as well as the couple’s two sons, Matthew and Luke Welch, both of whom followed in their famous parents’ footsteps by pursuing careers in set design on productions including Schitt’s Creek and The Last of Us.
