Catherine O’Hara Dies at 71—A Look at the Beloved ‘Home Alone’ Mom’s Joyfully Iconic Career

American-Canadian actress Catherine O’Hara has passed away at the age of 71. TMZ was the first to break the news, and as of publication the actresses’ cause of death has yet to be revealed. 

Before her death, O’Hara had earned two Emmy Awards, one for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series when she starred as Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek, and another for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for her work in the 1980s TV series SCTV (usually shortened from Second City Television). To learn more about O’Hara’s incredible career, keep reading. 

The early years of Catherine O’Hara

Born on March 4, 1954, in Toronto, Ontario, O’Hara was the sixth of seven children. Twenty years later, she joined The Second City, an improv group with chapters in Chicago, Toronto, and Los Angeles. It was there that she began to create the show SCTV, or Second City Television Network.

It ran for three seasons before going off the air in 1981 in Canada. From there, it switched to NBC in the United States and ran from 1981 to 1984, starring Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas and Eugene Levy, with whom O’Hara also starred alongside with in Schitts Creek.

During that time, though, O’Hara was approached to be on Saturday Night Live and even went to work there for a short time before going back to SCTV.

“Our producer [for SCTV] would get a deal with a network, and we’d have a show for a season or two, and then that deal would go away. There’d be a break, then we’d do the show again,” Catherine O’Hara told People magazine in January of 2024. “[Then] I got asked to be on Saturday Night Live. And, of course, I said yes. Who doesn’t want to do that?”

However, once SCTV was picked up by NBC, she left SNL and returned to her roots. “Basically, I said, ‘Oh, sorry, I gotta go be with my [comedy] family.'”

Catherine O’Hara stars in ‘Beetlejuice’

After leaving SCTV, she went on to star in a few smaller projects such as After Hours (1985), Heartburn (1986) and Trying Times (1987) Then, in 1988, she was cast as Delia in Beetlejuice, which was one of her most well-known roles.

The spooky movie follows Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin) after they die and get stuck haunting their old house and its new residents—The Deetze family (O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones, and Winona Ryder). Soon, they attract the attention of an unreliable spirit named Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton).

Catherine O’Hara takes on ‘The Home Alone’ movies

Post Beetlejuice, the actress starred in a few smaller things before booking the Christmas classic Home Alone in 1990, where she played Kevin’s (Macaulay Culkin) mother, Kate, who travels from Paris to Illinois after she realizes her son wasn’t with them on their family vacation. A massive success, in 1992 she returned to the franchise to star in the sequel Home Alone 2: Lost In New York.

When talking about the films, O’Hara told People in 2024, “All those kids that played our children were just lovely. [And director] Chris Columbus, lovely man,” she remembers. “He’s a family guy himself. I think he had like five kids already at the time. And [screenwriter] John Hughes wasn’t there a lot, but wrote such a beautiful script, obviously. It’s a perfect movie, isn’t it?”

Following her death announcement, Culkin took to Instagram to share how the news was affecting him.

“Mama. I thought we had time,” he wrote. “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.” 

Over the years, the two regularly got together, and when Culkin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2024 O’Hara was there to support him. 

Catherine O’Hara gets cast in ‘Schitt’s Creek’ 

After wrapping up filming on Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Catherine O’Hara kept busy starring in films like Best in Show (2000) and A Mighty Wind (2003). She also lent her vocal talents to cartoons like Chicken Little (2005), Over The Hedge (2006), Monster House (2006), Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006), Where the Wild Things Are (2009) and Frankenweenie (2012).

Then, in 2025, she got a cast in one of her most well-known and iconic roles. Yes, we are talking about her time as the hilarious and eccentric Moira Rose, wife of Jonny Rose (Eugene Levy) and mother to socialite Alexis Rose (Annie Murphy) and the dramatic David Rose (Dan Levy) — on Schitt’s Creek.

This role won her a second Emmy in 2020 and is something that people often praised her for prior to her passing. 

“I used to mostly get people named Kevin who’d come up to me and ask me to yell ‘Kevin!’ in their faces,” O’Hara told People in 2020, referencing her famous Home Alone line. “Now it’s mostly about Moira and Schitt’s Creek. I’ve never gotten this kind of attention in my life. It’s crazy.” 

The later years of Catherine O’Hara

After Schitt’s Creek, O’Hara appeared in huge blockbuster films like Netflix’s The Last Kids on Earth (2020 to 2021), Disney’s Elemental (2023), and the action-packed spy film Argylle (2024). She also reprised the role of Delia in the highly anticipated sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in 2024. 

“It was fun! Tim [Burton, the director] was just so excited and enthusiastic about doing it, and that was infectious. Everybody jumped in, and we kept saying, ‘Do you believe we’re doing this?’ And to see Michael’s face for the first time as Beetlejuice … Like, his character doesn’t have to age because he was always dead,” the actress told Parade in September of 2024. “I’m probably the oldest cast member, and I let myself age naturally. So I’m going on camera playing the same person! But that was also the lovely part. It was lovely to think about where these characters are now.” 

Following that, O’Hara worked on The Last of Us (2025) and The Studio (2025), which was the last project before her passing in January of 2026. 

“I’ve played a few kinds of delusional characters, and it’s really fun. I think maybe I am drawn to that because‚— it’s a fact—we’re all delusional. We’re gonna die someday, and every day we pretend we’re not,” O’Hara told Variety in one of her last interviews. “And thinking you can control what others think of you is a joke. You’ll never be able to control that, and that’s just the way it is. I guess I like tapping into that—how we try to control ourselves.”

Catherine O’Hara’s personal life

O’Hara was married to production designer Bo Welch from 1992 until her death in 2026. They met on the set of Beetlejuice and had two sons together.

“They’re very funny, and we encourage it. The older one does Warner’s cartoon bits, really old-fashioned, cheap *ss funny vaudeville stuff. And the little one does word play,” O’Hara told the Toronto Star in 2007. “I’m proud to say, we all make each other laugh. In my home, growing up. I learned that from my parents. They made each other laugh to the end, God bless ‘em. How great is that?”

May Catherine O’Hara rest in peace.