2 hours ago
5
Catherine O’Hara, the Emmy-winning actor and beloved star of the series Schitt’s Creek and the 1990 hit movie Home Alone, died from a blood clot in her lungs, her death certificate revealed Monday.
The death certificate released by the Los Angeles county medical examiner’s office also listed rectal cancer as an underlying cause.
The Canadian-born performer was rushed to the hospital on 30 January after having difficulty breathing at her home in the ritzy Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.
The 71-year-old, who starred in Beetlejuice and more recently in Apple TV’s Hollywood satire show The Studio, was declared dead a short time later.
The actor’s death sent shock waves through Hollywood with tributes pouring in from past co-stars – including Schitt’s Creek creators Eugene and Dan Levy, Beetlejuice’s Michael Keaton and Home Alone’s Macaulay Culkin. Political figures such as former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau called her a “beloved Canadian icon”, while the country’s current leader, Mark Carney, said Canada had “lost a legend”.
Even the Westminster dog show felt the loss. O’Hara was especially beloved in dog-show circles for portraying Cookie Fleck, a Norwich terrier owner, in Christopher Guest’s 2000 mockumentary Best in Show. Organizers of the show paid tribute to the O’Hara with a video montage played on the jumbotron in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
O’Hara was born in Toronto in 1954, where she joined the legendary comedy theater Second City, alongside Eugene Levy, with whom she would collaborate throughout her career, including on the smash TV series Schitt’s Creek.
Her break into movies came in 1980 with Double Negative – also alongside Eugene Levy, and John Candy.
In 1988, she played Winona Ryder’s stepmother in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. She would later marry the film’s production designer Bo Welch. The couple had two sons, Matthew and Luke.
But it was in 1990 that she became widely known to a global audience, as the mother of Culkin’s Kevin in Home Alone.
She would reprise the role in the film’s sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which featured a cameo from Donald Trump, decades before he would become US president.
In 1993, she collaborated again with Burton on The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The versatile comedian appeared in other Guest mockumentaries that revel in silly spectacles of Americana, such as the vain folk singers in A Mighty Wind, and award-hungry actors in For Your Consideration.
Her role in Schitt’s Creek brought her an Emmy for best lead actress in 2020. She was also awarded a Golden Globe and a Sag award.
