"The way she screamed "KEVIN!" in two "Home Alones" as Kate McCallister. But it wasn't boldness alone that made her one of the greats, and her characters memorable: No matter how absurd or how preposterous or even cliche on the page, there was always a beating heart underneath the silliness, a compassion that shone through. Yes, even as Cookie Fleck, with all her ex-boyfriends, in "Best in Show.""
"Just eight years younger than another comedy trailblazer Gilda Radner, whom she understudied for at "The Second City" in Toronto, O'Hara was not an obvious candidate for stardom as the second youngest of seven in a decidedly non-showbiz, Catholic family. But she loved comedy, obsessing over "Monty Python" in high school and even trying to meet them at the airport once after hearing they were flying in. And when her brother began dating Radner, she followed that trail to the improv stage."
"Because of that innate grasp on her craft, unwillingness to settle into nostalgia and uncanny ability to invent herself anew with each project, her characters would impact multiple generations of film, television and comedy fans. Before she died at age 71, she was still forging new trails as the ousted studio executive Patty Leigh in "The Studio." And she did it all with grace and humility, a diva only when the role and costume demanded it."
Catherine O'Hara combined fearless comedic invention with deep emotional truth, creating memorable characters across film and television. She performed iconic roles including Moira Rose on Schitt's Creek, Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice, Kate McCallister in Home Alone, and Cookie Fleck in Best in Show. Colleagues credited her with transforming understandings of comedy and humanity. She kept reinventing herself, refusing to rely on nostalgia, and continued acting into her seventies, most recently as Patty Leigh in The Studio. She began in improvisational theatre, understudying Gilda Radner at The Second City, and traced an early passion to Monty Python and family connections to the Toronto comedy scene.
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