Nardine Saad
in Los Angeles

Image source, Variety via Getty Images

Beyond her frazzled mom days in Home Alone, Catherine O'Hara cultivated a zany, self-effacing persona in Hollywood that was delightful to watch. At any awards show, when the Canadian star - who got her start in improv - walked onstage, the audience always knew it was in for a treat - even to those most jaded of awards-show viewers.

Take her 2020 appearance during the socially distanced Canadian Screen Awards, when she quipped about "enjoying the great indoors" during the virtual ceremony and delivered her acceptance speech while appearing from home. Fully committing to the bit, she played herself off with music but managed to sing the remainder of her speech to the tune in a way that only the quirky Moira Rose can.

When she won the lead actress in a comedy prize at the 2020 Emmy Awards, she relished the opportunity to play "a woman of a certain age - my age - who gets to fully be her ridiculous self", while appearing at a Toronto viewing party while Covid-19 restrictions relegated most winners to digital appearances.

The following year, her onstage reunion with her Schitt's Creek co-stars Dan Levy, Eugene Levy and Annie Murphy was a welcome sight, especially when the jokes were warmly delivered at the expense of the elder Levy.

Most memorable perhaps, might be her 2024 appearance at the Emmys when she was presenting an award solo and hesitated to deliver the prize, asking, "must we really choose one winner?" before ripping up the envelope.

At the Oscars that year, she reunited with her "Beetlejuice" co-star Michael Keaton to present awards for make-up and hairstyling, saying "the last thing we want is for anyone to know what we actually look like or the squalor in which we actually live".

Last year, she and The Studio co-star Seth Rogen presented at the Golden Globe Awards, and their rambling bit on Canada's made-up awards shows went long but still got plenty of laughs for their digs at Americans and awards shows.

Image source, Getty Images

Film-maker and former actor Ron Howard has reacted to the "shattering news" of O'Hara's death.

"What a wonderful person, artist and collaborator," the A Beautiful Mind Oscar winner writes on X.

"I was lucky enough to direct, produce and act in projects with her and she was simply growing more brilliant with each year. My heart goes out to Bo & family. #RIPCatherineO’Hara"

Howard directed O’Hara in the 1992 dramedy The Paper and appeared as himself in Season 1 of HBO's The Studio.

Jessica Murphy
BBC News, Toronto

Image source, /Toronto Star via Getty Images

O’Hara got her foot in the door as a waitress at the Toronto Second City theatre in the 1970s, before auditioning for a role with the acting troupe.

She further developed her comedic chops after joining the cast of sketch comedy show Second City Television, alongside the likes of Eugene Levy and the late John Candy.

It became one of the most successful Canadian TV programmes ever.

She has credited her Canadian roots with helping develop her sense of humour.

In 2020, she told Rolling Stone that growing up Canadian didn't have the same sense of nationalism or patriotism that she saw in the US.

"And that's a good thing because it does make you look outside of yourself and be aware of the world and not take yourself seriously," she said.

"And I think Canadians have not only a sense of humour about others but also about themselves."

The actress said that humour could have a dark side.

"There's an edge to it, but with compassion and love," she said.

Toronto-born O'Hara received the Order of Canada in 2018 and a lifetime achievement award in 2021 at the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards.

Lizo Mzimba
Entertainment correspondent

Image source, Alamy

Few actors can claim to have, with just one word of dialogue, created a moment that is still talked about and imitated decades later.

Catherine O’Hara did it twice, kind of.

Her look of horror in Home Alone as she realises her youngest son has been left behind - and her scream of "Kevin!" - is one of the most memorable moments from one of the most successful comedies ever.

And it’s repeated in Home Alone 2, when she realises the family have done it again - this time accompanied by her fainting backwards.

She also was part of perhaps the most famous sequence from 1989's Beetlejuice, as she leads her possessed dinner guests in an enthralling song and dance performance of Day-O (the Banana Boat song).

Another classic moment of cinema that is still remembered nearly 40 years later.

Steven McIntosh
Entertainment reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Catherine O'Hara had a late career surge thanks to a certain Canadian comedy series that became one of the biggest hits of the Covid lockdown.

Schitt's Creek had already been running for years with several seasons under its belt, and enjoyed a dedicated but relatively small following.

That all changed in 2020, when it was discovered by a whole new audience who were stuck at home for months and in desperate need of a few laughs.

The show followed a wealthy family who suddenly lose their money and mansion, and are forced to move into a shabby motel in a deadbeat town.

It's a series with real heart, and viewers watched as the Roses gradually adapt to their new life and become a key part of their new community, with all of its eccentric but fundamentally kind characters.

With dozens of 20-minute episodes, it was the kind of light-hearted show viewers could buzz through easily to take their mind off things. A long-hidden gem was no longer hidden.

And O'Hara's character was a particular delight. Moira Rose will be remembered for her wildly fluctuating accent, outlandish fashion sense, and brilliant one-liners. (A personal favourite: "Never assume, Twyla, because when you assume, it makes an ass out of... both of us.")

Image source, Reuters

We have a statement from Macaulay Culkin, who starred with O'Hara in the first two Home Alone films.

"Mama. I thought we had time," Culkin writes in an Instagram post.

"I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you.

"I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later."

O'Hara played Kate McCallister, mother of the mischievous Kevin, in Home Alone.

In December 2023, O'Hara spoke alongside Macaulay Culkin when he was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"Thank you" she told the ceremony, "for including me, your fake mom, who left you home alone not once but twice, to share in this happy occasion.

"I’m so proud of you."

Annabel Rackham
Culture reporter

Image source, Alamy

Fans of Catherine O’Hara will fondly recall her role in the early 1990s festive hit films Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, in which she played the mother to Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin).

She injected humour and depth into a minor part as a frantic suburban mom who struggles to keep tabs on her five children as the family flies away for a Christmas holiday.

One of the most memorable scenes is in the second film, when O'Hara and Culkin are reunited as mother and son enjoying a touching moment together in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

Image source, Getty Images for IMDb

We can now bring you a statement from the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, a labour union for Hollywood actors, who said O'Hara had been a member since 1980.

Image source, Getty Images

Over a five-decade career in Hollywood, Catherine O'Hara cemented herself as a comedic icon.

Born in Canada, she started her career on a Canadian sketch comedy called Second City Television, for which she earned an Emmy Award.

She went on to star in classics like Home Alone and Beetlejuice.

Her star rose even further in the last decade with her portrayal of eccentric actress and mother Moira Rose in the sitcom Schitt's Creek. That performance earned her Emmys and Golden Globe Awards.

O'Hara also recently played a therapist in season two of HBO's hit show The Last of Us and high-ranking studio executive Patty Leigh in Seth Rogen's The Studio.

In 2024, she reprised her Beetlejuice character in the film's sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Steven McIntosh
Entertainment reporter

Image source, Apple TV+

Catherine O'Hara was working until very close to her death, starring in Seth Rogen's acclaimed Hollywood satire The Studio just last year.

She played Patty Leigh, the long-standing boss of a major movie company, who is fired at the beginning of the series to be replaced by Rogen's character.

But Patty goes on to a more creative role - becoming a successful film producer who helms some hugely popular movies.

O'Hara was wonderful in the Apple TV comedy - an episode set entirely at the Golden Globes was a particular highlight, as her character schmoozed the roomful of Hollywood stars and moguls.

For her performance, O'Hara was nominated at the (real) Golden Globes earlier this month, and is also up for best female comedy performance at the forthcoming Actor Awards (formerly SAG) - a now-posthumous nomination which takes on a sad poignancy.

The BBC's US partner, CBS News, has received a statement from the actress's management, the Creative Artists Agency.

It says O'Hara died after a brief illness.

"Prolific multi-award-winning actress, writer, and comedian Catherine O’Hara died today at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness."

"O’Hara is survived by her husband Bo Welch and sons Matthew and Luke, along with siblings Michael O’Hara, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus O‘Hara, Tom O’Hara, Patricia Wallice," the statement says.

The family will hold a private celebration of life, it adds.

Nardine Saad
in Los Angeles

O'Hara's manager's office tells the BBC the actress's cause of death is not known at this time.

They have no additional statement.

Image source, Getty Images

Hollywood star Catherine O'Hara, best known for her role as the matriarch in the Home Alone film series and the sitcom Schitt's Creek, has died.

She was 71.

Image source, Reuters

Nardine Saad
in Los Angeles

Catherine O'Hara's manager's office has confirmed the actress's death at 71 to the BBC, saying over the phone: "Yes, unfortunately it is true".