One month into 2026 and Hollywood has lost one other legend! Catherine O’Hara passed away on Friday, per the Associated Press. She was 71. O’Hara was a gifted comic actor born in Canada. Amongst her many iconic roles, she starred because the mother in the primary two ‘Home Alone’ movies. Following news of her death, her co-star Macaulay Culkin, who played her son in the flicks, shared a message that has fandoj s crying even harder!
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Catherine O’Hara Died Following An Illness
Catherine O’Hara died at her home in Los Angeles “following a temporary illness,” in line with an announcement from her agency, Creative Artists Agency. There are not any further details about said illness at the moment. It’s unclear if the actress was alone when she died.
She is survived by her husband, Bo Welch, and sons Matthew and Luke. Moreover, she is survived by six siblings, Michael O’Hara, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus O’Hara, Tom O’Hara and Patricia Wallice.
Macaulay Culkin Shares Message For His Movie “Mama”
Inside hours of her death announcement, Macaulay Culkin pushed saddened fans over the sting with a childhood throwback. He shared a screen grab of him and Catherine O’Hara within the ‘Home Alone’ film next to a photograph of them two years ago. Within the newer photo, Macaulay was supporting Catherine at her Hollywood Walk of Fame star reveal on December 1, 2023.
Within the caption of his tribute post, which he shared on several platforms including Instagram and Threads, he referred to O’Hara as “Mama.”
“I believed we had time. I wanted more, I wanted to take a seat in a chair next to you, I heard you. But I had so rather more to say. I like you. I’ll so long,” Macaulay Culkin wrote.
Over 20,000 Instagram users slid into his IG comment section to share their love, condolences and grief. The post has also pulled in nearly 700,000 likes and counting.
Catherine Built A Legacy To Remember
Catherine O’Hara was THAT GIRL on the screen, but her icon status didn’t come without persistence. She began acting within the Seventies at Second City Television, where she first linked along with her lifelong collaborator and ‘Schitt’s Creek’ costar, Eugene Levy. Together, they were a part of the unique forged of the sketch show ‘SCTV.’ It aired on Canadian TV within the Seventies, and aired on NBC within the U.S. within the early ’80s.
Her entry into Hollywood began with supporting roles in Martin Scorsese’s 1985 ‘After Hours’ and Tim Burton’s 1988 ‘Beetlejuice’ — a job she played again within the 2024 sequel.
Then got here the ‘Home Alone’ movies. In that role, she was a horrified mother who by chance abandoned her child (played by Macaulay Culkin) twice. The movies were amongst the most important box office earners of the early Nineteen Nineties and their Christmas setting made them TV reruns. Catherine O’Hara later found her groove in a series of mockumentaries that began with ‘Waiting for Guffman’ and continued with ‘Best in Show,’ ‘A Might Wind’ and ‘For Your Consideration.’
Nonetheless, it was her role on ‘Schitt’s Creek’ as Moira Rose that became a career-capping triumph and allowed her to indicate off her comic talents. After six seasons, it brought Catherine O’Hara a brand new generation of fans and put her at the middle of cultural attention. She told The Associated Press that she pictured Moira as someone who had married wealthy and desired to “remind everyone that (she was) special, too.”
RIP Catherine O’Hara.
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AP Entertainment Writers Andrew Dalton, Jocelyn Noveck, Lindsey Bahr and R.J. Rico contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
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