Some very sad news to report today, as beloved Canadian actress and comedian Catherine O'Hara has passed away at the age of 71.
Details have not been disclosed, but according to her agency CAA, O’Hara died Friday at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness.
The two-time Emmy winner's career spanned 5 decades, beginning as a member of Toronto's Second City company, where she served as an understudy to Gilda Radner before moving on to become part of the original Saturday Night Live ensemble. In 1976, O'Hara founded the SCTV sketch comedy show with the likes of John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Levy, Andrea Martin, O’Hara, Harold Ramis, and Dave Thomas.
Numerous film roles followed, including memorable turns in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (she returned as Deelia Deetz for recent sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), A Nightmare Before Christmas, The Paper, and the Home Alone movies. More recently, O'Hara enjoyed a career resurgence of a sort on the small screen, appearing in The Studio, the second season of The Last of Us, and Schitt’s Creek.
Tributes from those who knew and worked with O'Hara have been pouring in since the news broke last night.
O’Hara is survived by her husband, Bo Welch, sons Matthew and Luke, along with siblings Michael O’Hara, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus O‘Hara, Tom O’Hara and Patricia Wallice.
What was your favorite Catherine O'Hara performance? Let us know in the comments section.