Catherine O'Hara, Comic Genius Whose Final Chapter Included Iconic Work on 'Schitt's Creek,' Dies at 71
Her sudden death came after a short illness
January 30, 2026
I was just thinking we hadn’t had many high-profile deaths in 2026, and suddenly we are dealing with the unbearable news that comedy genius Catherine O’Hara has died out of nowhere at 71.
According to her rep, she died today at home in L.A. after a brief illness, while Page Six confirms she had been taken to a hospital early this morning. At any rate, she had appeared to be quite thin for the past year, making her last appearance at an Emmys party in September.
It would be hard to overstate how well-liked and respected O’Hara was across her more than 50-year career.
First a revered member of the Second City comedy troupe, she was an integral member of the cast of SCTV (1976-1984), winning the Emmy in 1982 for her writing.
She created unforgettable characters, among them Lola Heatherton:
Though she was hired as a Saturday Night Live player, she walked away from the gig after deciding New York was not for her.
She made her film debut in 1980’s Nothing Personal (1980), she worked with an astonishing array of A-list actors and directors in Double Negative (1980), starring Anthony Perkins; the star-studded After Hours (1985), directed by Martin Scorsese; Heartburn (1986), directed by Mike Nichols and starring Meryl Streep, who she had parodied on SCTV; Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy (1990) with Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman and more; and Alan Alda’s Betsy’s Wedding (1990).
Who can forget her as overbearing Delia Deetz in Tim Burton’s 1988 hit Beetlejuice? She returned for the 2024 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sequel.
As popular at that one was, surely just about every filmgoer saw her as the mother in Home Alone (1990) and its sequel (1992), which led to a lifelong bond with her on-screen son Macaulay Culkin. Culkin remembered her on Instagram poetically:
She appeared in a wide variety of films, none more effective than her four with Christopher Guest. Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006).
I’ve always thought it would be delicious had she received an Oscar nomination for For Your Consideration, in which she plays an actress who falls into Oscar buzz, but my favorite was her slutty Cookie Fleck in Best in Show, who was recognized by former flames everywhere she went.
Some of her other films included The Paper (1994), Wyatt Earp (1994), Surviving Christmas (2004), Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) and The Wild Robot (2024), the latter of which is an example of how deftly she used her inimitable voice in so many animated projects.
Among so many sterling TV projects, she was Emmy nominated for her work in the TV movie Temple Grandin (2010).
As absolutely unfair as it is to lose O’Hara so young, at least she had enjoyed a late-career renaissance, one in which she won her first (and only) acting Emmy as Moira on the surprise hit Schitt’s Creek (2015-2020). Every member of that cast won the Emmy in 2020, a fitting crowning achievement.
She also took home the Golden Globe and the SAG Award for Schitt’s Creek.
Continuing her hot streak, she was Emmy-nominated for guesting on The Last of Us (2025) and as part of the cast of The Studio (2025) — the latter of which will be handed out later this year.
If you happened to catch last year’s doc John Candy: I Like Me, that wound up being her final feature-film appearance.
O’Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch, her sons and her six siblings.
The injustice of her death grips me. The fat orange fuck lives and she doesn't. It is extremely hard to make sense of. I am so sad about this. What a shock. I hope her beautiful should rests in peace and gratefulness for the joy she brought to the world.