Catherine O'Hara: A comedy icon has passed

Catherine O'Hara in Home Alone (left) and Schitt's Creek (right) Image Credit: Acquired from Book Riot

On January 30, Canadian comedy legend Catherine O'Hara passed at the age of 71 years-old away after suffering a pulmonary embolism caused by a brief illness.

The actress, most famous for her role as Kate McCallister (the mom) in Home Alone and for her Emmy-winning performance as Moira Rose in the CBC series Schitt's Creek, was one of the most recognizable actresses and comics in modern memory. With an easy-to-recognize voice and delightful comedic timing, O'Hara was adored by fans and critics alike.

She began her career in sketch comedy on Second City Television, for which she won her first Primetime Emmy Award, and met her longtime comedic collaborator, Eugene Levy. Her most prominent American film by this point would be Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, where she plays Delia Deetz, an 'artistic' woman insisting on expressing her creativity in their new environment. She would reprise this role in the sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in 2024.

She became a household name with the fan-favorite Christmas comedy Home Alone, where her character, Kate McCallister, forgets her son at home while the family vacations in Paris. Half the film is Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) enjoying his newfound freedom at the home while the other half of the film sees Kate doing everything she can to get back home.

She has other prominent voice acting roles in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, Chicken Little, Monster House, and most recently in Elemental and The Wild Robot.

Younger audiences today know her prominently for her role as the matriarch of the Rose family in the CBC series, Schitt's Creek, where she stars opposite her lifelong creative partner, Eugene Levy. The Rose family was a wealthy family who lose everything and must move into a motel in a rural town that the dad bought as a joke. O'Hara gives her greatest-ever performance as the wispy, eloquent, and wig-loving soap opera star.

Her co-star, Levy, had fond words to say about her to USA Today.

"Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today ... I had the honor of knowing and working with the great Catherine O'Hara for over fifty years ... I cherished our working relationship, but most of all our friendship." -Eugene Levy

After decades of making the world laugh, fans will continue to honor and cherish the life and work of one of Canada's most beloved comedians.