Emmy-winning actress Catherine O’Hara, who starred in “Schitt’s Creek” and “Home Alone,” died from a blood clot in her lungs, her death certificate revealed on Monday.
The Canadian-born performer was rushed to the hospital on January 30 after having difficulty breathing at her home in the ritzy Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.
The 71-year-old, who starred in “Beetlejuice” and more recently in Apple TV’s Hollywood satire show “The Studio,” was declared dead a short time later.
Pulmonary embolism
The actress’s death certificate said she had died of a pulmonary embolism and listed rectal cancer as a secondary factor.
Catherine O’Hara was born in Toronto in 1954, where she joined the legendary comedy theater Second City, alongside Eugene Levy, with whom she would collaborate throughout her career, including on the smash TV series “Schitt’s Creek.”
Her break into movies came in 1980 with “Double Negative” – also alongside Levy, and John Candy.
In 1988, she played Winona Ryder’s stepmother in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice.” She would later marry the film’s production designer Bo Welch. The couple had two sons, Matthew and Luke.
But it was in 1990 that she became widely known to a global audience, as the mother of Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin in “Home Alone.”
She would reprise the role in the film’s sequel, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” which featured a cameo from Donald Trump, decades before he would become US president.
Versatile comedienne
In 1993 Catherine O’Hara collaborated again with Burton on “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
The versatile comedienne also appeared in British filmmaker Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries that revel in silly spectacles of Americana, like zany dog handlers in “Best in Show,” vain folk singers in “A Mighty Wind,” and award-hungry actors in “For Your Consideration.”
But she is perhaps best known by modern audiences for her role in “Schitt’s Creek,” created by Eugene Levy’s son, Dan Levy.
The role brought her an Emmy for best lead actress in 2020. She was also awarded a Golden Globe and a SAG Award.
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse