Catherine O'Hara Dies At 71: Theatre Artist To Moira Rose, Know All About Actress' Five Decade Long Journey

Catherine

O'Hara, Hollywood actress known for Home Alone has died at the age of 71at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness. She has been in the acting industry since early 1980s with television shows and award-winning films explaining her dramatic and inspiring career, spanned for over five decades. From her comedy series to gaining acclaimed honour with films like Home Alone, Beetlejuice and popular CBC sitcom Schitt's Creek, the actress will always be remembered as a legend of Hollywood. Let us know in detail about her journey and relevance, honouring the 50 years she gave to entertainment.

Catherine O'Hara early years and marriage

Born in the 1950s, Catherine grew up in Toronto, Ontario, the sixth of seven children and was raised as a Catholic. She was the older sister to musician and actress Mary Margaret O'Hara. O'Hara met production designer Bo Welch on the set of Beetlejuice. They married in 1992 and had two sons together: Matthew and Luke. She held dual Canadian and American citizenship.

Breakthrough performance and major film releases

She later went on to star in sketch comedy series Second City Television winning a major award and then came a line of blockbuster film releases including After Hours (1985), Heartburn (1986), Beetlejuice (1988), Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Another major release was as Moira Rose in the CBC sitcom Schitt's Creek which spanned for five years, from 2015 till 2020. For this, she even got the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.

OTT releases

Catherine also gave an outstanding shot in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2003–2005), the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017–2018), the Apple TV+ comedy series The Studio (2025), and the HBO post-apocalyptic drama series The Last of Us (2025).

O'Hara's last film

O'Hara's last project before death was a special appearance as Gail Lynden in season two of HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama series The Last of Us, adding another memorable role to her diverse filmography.