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Catherine O’Hara, the versatile Canadian actress known for her dynamic roles, including the flamboyant Moira Rose from “Schitt’s Creek” and the anxious mother in “Home Alone,” has passed away at the age of 71.
Her death has led to a flood of heartfelt tributes, notably from her “Home Alone” co-star Macaulay Culkin and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
According to a statement from Creative Artists Agency, as reported by the BBC, O’Hara passed away on Friday in Los Angeles after battling a brief illness.
O’Hara captivated audiences with her portrayal of Kate McCallister, the mother of Macaulay Culkin’s character Kevin in “Home Alone,” and she also brought to life the character Delia Deetz in “Beetlejuice.”
An outpouring of tributes
Culkin paid homage to O’Hara on Instagram.
“Mama. I thought we had time. 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,” Culkin wrote alongside images of the two of them.
Carney wrote on X: “I join Canadians and fans across the world in mourning the loss of Catherine O’Hara.”
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, called her “a beloved Canadian icon with a rare gift for comedy and heart” on X.
“She made people laugh across generations.”
O’Hara was born on March 4, 1954, and grew up in Toronto as the sixth of seven children.
She began her acting career in 1974 as a cast member of the improvisational theatre troupe called The Second City in Toronto.
‘When in doubt, play insane’
O’Hara eventually joined the company in 1974. However, she later confessed to feeling anxious whenever she was on the stage.
“My crutch was, in improvs, when in doubt, play insane. Because you didn’t have to excuse anything that came out of your mouth. It didn’t have to make sense,” she admitted to The New Yorker in 2019.
O’Hara eventually landed a role on a TV sketch show called Second City Television, which aired on NBC in the 80s.
The actress became famous for her impressions of various well-known celebrities, including Meryl Streep and Brooke Shields.
She eventually worked with Streep on the film Heartburn and her co-star paid tribute in a statement.
“Catherine O’Hara brought love and light to our world, through whipsmart compassion for the collection of eccentrics she portrayed … such a loss for her family and friends, and the audience she graced as friends,” she said.
O’Hara made her film debut in 1980, when she starred alongside the likes of John Candy and Eugene Levy in Double Negative.
In 1988, she starred as Delia Deetz, the stepmother of Winona Ryder’s Lydia, in the hit movie Beetlejuice, which proved to be a huge commercial success.
Her Beetlejuice co-star Michael Keaton paid tribute, saying: “She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and real life true friend”.
“This one hurts. Man am I going to miss her.”
O’Hara — who reprised her most famous role as Kevin’s mum for 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York — told People: “It’s a perfect movie, isn’t it?”
Her her simple, one-word line reading of “KEVIN!!!” – the child she kept leaving behind – became iconic.
O’Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch, whom she met in 1987 on the set of “Beetlejuice,” and their two sons.
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