The world is mourning the death of Catherine O’Hara.
The Canadian actress, who rose to fame for her comedic role in SCTV, and starred in films like Home Alone and Best in Show, and the hit sitcom Schitt’s Creek, died at the age of 71. News of her death was reported on Friday. Celebrities across Hollywood and beyond are remembering the actress as a “comedic genius” who was “full of joy.”
Another pivotal role in O’Hara’s career was as Delia Deetz in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. Michael Keaton, her co-star in that film, paid tribute to O’Hara in an Instagram post. “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. Thinking about Beau as well,” Keaton wrote, referring to the actress’ husband, Bo Welch.
One of O’Hara’s most recent roles was as Patty Leigh in Apple TV’s The Studio. Seth Rogen, the show’s co-creator and star, paid tribute to the actress in a moving Instagram post. “Really don’t know what to say… I told O’Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I’d ever had the pleasure of watching on screen. Home Alone was the movie that made me want to make movies. Getting to work with her was a true honour. She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous … she made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it. This is just devastating. We’re all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it,” Rogen wrote.
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O’Hara was known for her work in Christopher Guest’s mockumentary comedies, including For Your Consideration. In a statement to Rolling Stone, the director paid tribute to O’Hara, writing, “I am devastated. We have lost one of the comic giants of our age. I send my love to her family.”
Lily Tomlin, who starred alongside O’Hara in Schitt’s Creek, remembered her former co-star as “Bright, beautiful, and full of joy that touched so many.”
Schitt’s Creek director Jordan Canning also paid tribute to O’Hara, calling her “the kindest, most generous and legendary person.” In an Instagram caption, Canning continued: “We were all so lucky to have had you in the world, making us laugh.” The director shared a photo of O’Hara in costume as her Schitt’s Creek character Moira Rose and referenced the photo. “I took this as we were all clapping her out on the last day of Schitt’s Creek. No one was more beloved,” she wrote.
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Martin Scorsese also shared his thoughts about O’Hara’s death, which he said in a statement “feels impossible.” The esteemed director worked with the actress back in 1984 on the neo-noir comedy After Hours. He continued in his statement: “Many people know her from Schitt’s Creek. For many others, it’s the Home Alone pictures or Beetlejuice or the Christopher Guest comedies. For me, and for most of my friends, it’s SCTV. All I have to do is think about one of the characters she created, like Lola Heatherton or Dusty Towne, and I’m laughing. Catherine was a true comic genius, a true artist, and a wonderful human being. I was blessed to be able to work with her on After Hours, and I’m going to miss her presence and her artistry. We all are.”
Griffin Dunne, who starred in After Hours with O’Hara, remembered in a post “the single most fun I ever had was shooting the telephone scene with Catherine.” Dunne recalled how she showed him around during his first visit to Toronto, introducing him to her sister and songwriter Margaret and drinking beer with her “hilarious” friends. He also shared her advising him not to go into a trailer at a fair to see a man who weighed over a thousand pounds, and how she “said if I went I wasn’t going to like it or myself afterwards.” Dunne said he went anyway and that she was right. “Catherine had a joyful, open heart and a gift for attracting and surrounding herself with people who lived life the same,” he said.
Macaulay Culkin posted a touching tribute to O’Hara, who played his mother in Home Alone. “Mama. I thought we had time,” the actor began in a sweet caption. “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,” he continued. For a picture, Culkin paired a still of him and O’Hara from Home Alone with a more recent photo of the two in the same position.
Home Alone director Chris Columbus also wrote a tribute post on Instagram, sharing how “stunned and heartbroken” he was to hear the news of O’Hara’s death. “I was an obsessive fan of Catherine’s brilliant comedic work on SCTV and was thrilled when she agreed to play Kevin’s Mom in Home Alone. What most people don’t realize is that Catherine carries the weight of 50% of that film. The movie simply would not work without her extraordinary performance. Catherine grounds the picture with a profound emotional depth. I will miss her greatly. Yet there is a small sense of comfort, realizing that two of the finest human beings I’ve ever known, Catherine and John Candy, are together again, brilliantly improvising, making each other laugh.”
Pedro Pascal remembered “the one and only” O’Hara in an Instagram post. “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,” Pascal wrote in the caption. In 2025, O’Hara worked alongside Pascal in Season Two of The Last of Us.
Michael Bublé, a Canada native, remembered O’Hara as “an ambassador for Canada in the truest sense: brilliant, fearless, deeply original, and so full of humanity” in his tribute on Instagram. He continued: “As an artist, she inspired me more than she’ll ever know. She set the bar for what it means to represent your country with excellence and grace and all without ever losing warmth or humility. My heart is broken for her family, her loved ones, and everyone who adored her, both here in Canada and around the world. If you’re grieving this loss, you’re not alone. We’re all holding a piece of this sadness together. Rest easy, Catherine. Thank you for everything.”
Melanie Lynskey also wrote a lengthy post to honor O’Hara’s “singular” talent. “So grateful I got to tell her what she meant to me — how she inspired me, shaped my sense of humour and understanding of the work we do, that she was the pinnacle of greatness to me. I’m sure every actor she met told her similar things. She did not behave as though she’d heard it a million times, she listened and accepted it with grace and wit and tremendous kindness,” Lynskey wrote. She continued: “Thank you to [director] Jason Reitman for inviting me to do the Film Independent LACMA reading where I got to work with my hero and witness her genius firsthand. It was incredible to watch her work and be in her presence. I’ll never forget a minute of it. That day, and again on an overlapping shoot day on Away We Go, I saw her be nothing short of wonderful to every single person she encountered, from the director to the PAs. When people say someone ‘lit up a room,’ this is what they mean. She was radiant; it was kind of otherworldly. Her talent was singular. There’s been nobody like her before and there won’t be again. What a genius. What a beautiful person. My heart is with her family and dear friends who adored her.”
O’Hara was fondly remembered by those who worked with her and also those who did not, with many stars sharing their condolences. Amy Sedaris wrote she was “truly heartbroken” as she revealed just how much O’Hara inspired her as an actress. “I was obsessed with her and SCTV. She could do anything. So so funny. So so original. Very very sad news…. spirit in the sky,” she added.
Colman Domingo wrote on his Instagram story: “This hurts. Such a sweet woman.” Slash also posted a picture of the actress on his Instagram with the simple caption, “RIP #CatherineOhara.”
From Rolling Stone US
