- - Catherine O'Hara Dies, SCTV/Home Alone/Schitt's Creek Legend Was 71

Zak WojnarJanuary 31, 2026 at 4:41 AM

0

Following a brief illness, Catherine O'Hara has died. She was 71 years old, and her passing was confirmed by Deadline. As of this writing, no details are available as to the nature of her illness, and I'm more inclined to respect her family's privacy than speculate on such things. Instead, let's take a brief look back at her tremendous career.

CBC Television (CBC Television)

Born in 1954, O'Hara made her bones working at SCTV, the Canadian counterpart of sorts to Saturday Night Live. The connections she made (and talent she displayed) in this time would form the backbone of much of her career, including her show-stopping appearances in multiple Christopher Guest movies, including Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind. She's arguably best known to general audiences for her role in Home Alone and its sequel, in which she played the mother of Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin). It's not an easy task to play a mother who literally forgets her son at home while out on a family vacation and still be warm and endearing, but she nailed it.

In recent years, O'Hara had a notable resurgence, with a notable guest spot on HBO's The Last of Us television series and reprising her character of Delia Deetz in 2024's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long overdue sequel to the 1988 original. However, it was her role in Schitt's Creek that turned her into a straight-up icon.

The series, created by (and co-starring) Dan Levy, saw O'Hara in the role of Moira Rose, a character whose wardrobe budget may or may not have exceeded the GDP of many small countries. Seriously, every episode, no, every single scene, showed Moira in a new combination of outfit, wig, and hat. Some were outrageously garish, while others were actually pretty hot. All of them are unforgettable, just like Catherine O'Hara herself.

Related: Udo Kier Dies: Prolific Star With Nearly Six Decades Of Film Credits Was 81 Years Old

This story was originally published by TV Squad on Jan 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the Movies section. Add TV Squad as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”