‘Beetlejuice’ actress Catherine O’Hara dies at 71
Catherine O’Hara, remembered as the award-winning star of “Home Alone,” “Beetlejuice,” and “Schitt’s Creek,” has died at the age of 71.
Legendary actress Catherine O’Hara, known for her roles in “Home Alone,” “Best in Show,” and “Schitt’s Creek,” has reportedly passed away. She was 71 years old.
The Canadian actress passed away on Friday, January 30, her manager confirmed to People magazine. TMZ was first to report the news.
Variety and Deadline, citing her agency CAA, reported that O’Hara died at home after a “short illness.”
A veteran of the entertainment industry, O’Hara is one of the most admired and respected actors of his generation, winning two Emmy Awards, one Golden Globe Award, and two Actor’s Awards (formerly Screen Actors Guild Awards) during his career. She was nominated for two Emmy Awards at the 2025 ceremony.
Born in Canada in 1954, O’Hara began her career with the Toronto comedy troupe Second City. The group later formed the Canadian sketch comedy show SCTV, which was also responsible for producing stars such as Martin Short, Rick Moranis, and O’Hara’s “Shits” co-star Eugene Levy. Her performance on “SCTV” made her famous in Canada, and she won an Emmy Award in 1982 for her writing on the sketch show, after moving to American television on NBC, which became known as “SCTV Network.”
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she worked steadily in television and movies, mostly in supporting roles. She appeared in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours in 1985 and Mike Nichols’ Heartburn in 1986.
In 1988, she danced “Day-O” as Delia Dietz in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, one of her most famous performances. She would later co-star with Burton again as a voice in two of Burton’s animated films, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Frankenweenie (2012), as well as the 2024 sequel Beetlejuice. Speaking to USA TODAY about her long-awaited return to the horror-comedy world, she embraced the nostalgia of movie fans. She said fans whose parents let them see the film as children were at an age where they “look back at that time in their lives and remember it fondly.”
In 1990, she landed her most iconic role as the poor, forgotten mother of Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin, in the Christmas classic Home Alone. She reprized the role in the 1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. O’Hara and Culkin have remained close since the movie, and O’Hara and Culkin attended the 2023 Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in O’Hara’s honor.
Culkin paid tribute to O’Hara on Instagram on Friday, writing, “Mom. I thought you had time.” “I wanted more. I wanted to sit in the chair next to you. I could hear your voice. But there was so much I wanted to say. I love you. I’ll see you again.”
The actresses are frequent collaborators on director Christopher Guest’s signature mockumentary films, including Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006). In the 2000s, she was praised for her work as a guest star on HBO’s series such as “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Six Feet Under.” In 2010, she received her first acting Emmy nomination for the TV movie Temple Grandin, co-starring Claire Danes.
O’Hara’s fame and career prospects took another leap forward with “Schitt’s Creek,” which premiered on Pop TV in 2015 but exploded in popularity after it was added to Netflix. In 2020, she won an Emmy for her role as Moira Rose, the theatrically demanding matriarch of a family, opposite Dan Levy, Eugene Levy, and Annie Murphy.
She most recently appeared alongside Seth Rogen on Apple TV’s industry satire show “The Studio” and the second season of HBO’s zombie apocalypse hit “The Last of Us.” She received Emmy nominations for both performances.
O’Hara married production designer Bo Welch in 1992 after they met on the set of Beetlejuice. The couple has two sons, Matthew and Luke. The family has lived in Los Angeles’ Brentwood neighborhood for years, and O’Hara was named “honorary mayor” in 2021.
O’Hara spoke to USA TODAY in 2025 about the Michelob Ultra Super Bowl commercial he appeared in alongside Willem Dafoe, and said he owed his successful career to advertising, not film or TV work. “I brag to people that I’m doing a Super Bowl commercial,” O’Hara said at the time. “It’s like, ‘Oh, I made it.’
When talking about the industry and her experience in comedy, she added, “Being able to laugh, especially at yourself, is a great gift.”
Contributor: Ralphie Aversa, USA TODAY
