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Catherine O'Hara introduced laughter into the world, and she has now taken some of it with her. The beloved comedy icon, best known for her roles in The Studio, Schitt's Creek, and Home Alone, among many others, has died, E! News can confirm. She was 71.
The cause of death has not yet been revealed. She is survived by her husband Bo Welch and their children, Matthew Welch, 32, and Luke Welch, 28.
The Emmy winner died less than a month after missing the Golden Globes on January 11, despite being nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role as Patty Leigh in The Studio alongside Seth Rogen, Kathryn Hahn, and Ike Barinholtz.
In the series, Catherine played a veteran studio executive veteran, who acted as a mentor for Seth’s Matt Remick, of course, mimicking real life as one Canadian comedy icon influencing another.
Despite her undeniable celebrity, Catherine told Variety in March 2025, "I don't think of myself like that, but it's nice that others do."
For her, comedy was a lifeline.
"There's no better survival instinct," she explained. "You're extremely fortunate if you're raised with it. It is one of God's greatest gifts, as life is full of both darkness and light. You have to look for the light. My parents were both extremely funny, and a sense of humor was always valued. Laughter and being funny were strongly encouraged at our table."
Catherine's gift was something she never stopped giving. She was a fixture in the late '80s and '90s for her roles as Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice and Macaulay Culkin’s mother in his beloved Home Alone franchise.
"I love it!" Catherine revealed to E! News that the film will be released in 2021. "Because I have my own and there's movies that I have to watch every Christmas."
Her second act came in 2015, when she experienced a career resurgence thanks to her iconic role as Moira Rose on Schitt's Creek.
"I just wanted to have a character that I wanted to live with," Catherine told E! in 2020. "The fact that anyone else cares about her or finds her entertaining, or even thinks she's crazy, or some people actually talk about how they learn something from her."
Catherine O'Hara, 1990
20th Century Fox/Kobal
Catherine said she hoped her character would "inspire older women."
"To dress a little hipper," she explained. "Take a few more." chances, to inspire people to have fun with wigs, and God bless them if they have to have them.”
Ultimately, it became the role of a lifetime.
“When I think of my happiest days in show business,” Catherine told costar and the show's creator Eugene Levy while accepting the TIFF Tribute Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award in September, during one of her last public appearances prior to her death. “I realize most of them have been with you.”
Catherine, like Eugene, left an impression on everyone she worked with. Shortly after news of her passing broke Pedro Pascal, who starred with her in The Last of Us, detailed what their time on set meant to him
"Oh, genius to be near you," he wrote in a Jan. 30 Instagram post. "I'm eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, but this fortunate world that had you will keep you forever.
Meanwhile, Macaulay, who has worked with Catherine since he was nine years old, lamented losing his Home Alone mom when he "thought we had time."
"I wanted more," he stated in his own Instagram tribute. "I wanted to sit in a chair beside you. I heard you, but I had. so much more to say. I love you. I'll see you later."
