Catherine O’Hara, one of the funniest people to ever set foot on planet Earth, died on Friday at the age of 71. TMZ broke the news.
The legendary actress had been making audiences laugh for decades on stage, screen, and TV. During that time, she appeared in (and frequently stole all her scenes in) some of the biggest and most famous movies ever. The cause of death has not yet been revealed.
O’Hara first broke out as part of the cult 1970s comedy show SCTV, along with many, many famous stars who would become frequent on-screen collaborators. People like John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, and Harold Ramis, just to name a few. Her growing television career quickly became a growing film career, with her appearing in the Martin Scorsese film After Hours, among others.
But O’Hara’s big foray into the mainstream was in Tim Burton’s 1988 classic, Beetlejuice. Playing eccentric artist and mom Delia Deetz, O’Hara showed her uncanny ability to be loving but also insanely weird and hilarious. A few years later, she appeared as Kevin’s mom in the smash hit comedy, Home Alone. That wasn’t a role where she was overtly funny, but you could tell that this person could do anything. She later reprised those roles in sequels to each.
You can go up and down O’Hara’s resume and marvel at all the work she’s done over the years, so much of it showcasing her multitude of talents. But things jumped to another level in 1996 when she, along with several of her comedy contemporaries, starred in Waiting for Guffman. Largely improvised, the film sent comedy off in an entirely new direction, and that team—O’Hara as well as Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, and others—continued that trend with similarly amazing, over-the-top, improv-driven films like Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.
And while O’Hara has always been beloved, that truly came to fruition with the show Schitt’s Creek. The Canadian hit, created by Levy and his son, Dan, allowed O’Hara to shine with one of the most incredible comedy performances of all time as Moira Rose. The character, a former soap star, gave O’Hara the chance to not just be wildly hilarious but also to use that comedy to melt your heart. The show, and her performance, was among her best work ever, and she rightfully won an acting Emmy for it.
Truly, the world of popular culture is darker today with the loss of O’Hara. She was, to quote a famous Schitt’s Creek scene, simply the best.
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