Actor Catherine O’Hara of ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ ‘SCTV’ and ‘Home Alone’ dies at 71

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Catherine O’Hara, a gifted Canadian comic actor and “SCTV” alum who starred as Macaulay Culkin’s harried mother in two “Home Alone” movies and created the dramatically ditzy character of Moira Rose in the Emmy-winning comedy “Schitt’s Creek,” died Friday.

O’Hara died at her home in Los Angeles “following a brief illness,” according to a statement from her agency, Creative Artists Agency. Further details were not immediately available.

O’Hara’s career was launched at the Second City in Toronto in the in 1970s. It was there that she first worked with Eugene Levy, who would become a lifelong collaborator — and her “Schitt’s Creek” costar. The two would be among the original cast of the sketch show “SCTV,” short for “Second City Television,” which spawned a legendary group of esoteric comedians including Martin Short, John Candy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis and Joe Flaherty.

“Schitt’s Creek” would be a career-capping triumph and the perfect personification of her comic talents. The small show created by Levy and his son Dan about a wealthy family forced to live in a tiny town would dominate the Emmys in its sixth and final season. It brought O’Hara, always a beloved figure, a new generation of fans and put her at the center of cultural attention.

It also brought a career renaissance that led to a dramatic turn on HBO’s “The Last of Us” and a straitlaced role as a Hollywood producer in “The Studio,” both of which earned her Emmy nominations.

She is survived by her husband, Bo Welch, and sons Matthew and Luke.

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