Catherine O’Hara Passes Away, Schitt’s Creek & Home Alone Star Was 71

Catherine O’Hara has passed away. The legendary star of Home Alone, Schitt’s Creek, and much more was 71 years old.

TMZ was first to report that O’Hara passed away on Friday, January 30, 2026. The cause of death is currently unclear.

Born in 1954, O’Hara’s career in Hollywood began with the Canadian sketch comedy series Second City Television, per Variety. That show earned O’Hara her first PrimeTime Emmy Award, an accolade that she’d again win in 2020 for her performance in Schitt’s Creek.

O’Hara’s first credited Hollywood movie is 1980’s Nothing Personal. She then went on to star in 1980’s Double Negative and 1983’s Rock & Rule before playing the memorable role of Gail in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, which was released in 1985.

Her stardom continued to rise after playing Delia Deetz in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, released in 1988. Just two years later, she starred as Kevin McCallister’s mom, Kate McCallister, in Home Alone. She reprised this role again in the sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Following that, O’Hara voiced Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas and appeared in movies such as 1994’s Wyatt Earp, 1996’s Waiting for Huffman, 1997’s Pippi Longstocking, 2000’s Best in Show, and 2004’s Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, among many other titles.

O’Hara’s career had a major renaissance in her 60s when she starred as Moira Rose in the popular Schitt’s Creek sitcom alongside Eugene Levy, Dan Levy, and Annie Murphy. She recently played Patty Leigh in the first season of The Studio and Gail Lynden in Season 2 of The Last of Us. Additionally, O’Hara reprised her Delia Deetz character in the Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and voiced a character in the award-winning The Wild Robot movie released in 2024.

ComingSoon sends condolences to Catherine O’Hara’s friends and family at this time.

Source: Comingsoon.net