With the death of comedy queen Catherine O’Hara at 71, Canada has lost one of its greatest talents. She leaves behind a hilarious body of work from her many decades in show business.
She first scored big belly laughs with a wide range of wacky characters on the groundbreaking sketch show “SCTV,” then appeared in not one, but two ’80s and ’90s comedy classics. O’Hara became a reliable presence across multiple genres, whether it was saddling up for Westerns like “Wyatt Earp” or “Tall Tale” or lending her unique voice to whimsical hits like “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Where the Wild Things Are.”
She was a go-to collaborator for Christopher Guest, starring in acclaimed mockumentaries including “Waiting for Guffman,” “A Mighty Wind” and “For Your Consideration.” She elevated both dark and sunny comedies with her presence, from Scorsese masterpiece “After Hours” to quirky dramedy “Away We Go.”
And she was lucky enough to score a legendary run in the last decade when a splashy role on breakout hit “Schitt’s Creek” introduced her to a whole new generation of fans, and won her an Emmy in 2020. It also netted her ongoing work in shows like “The Last of Us” and “The Studio,” the latter earning her an Emmy nomination.
Here, we look back on our five favourite Catherine O’Hara roles that she imbued with her signature snark and deep humanity.
1. “Beetlejuice” (1988)
“Artist” Delia Deetz is an odious creature: all seething snobbery and shrieking entitlement (plus some seriously bonkers hats). She played poor Winona Ryder’s archetypal evil stepmother — complete with terrible interior design skills and a penchant for creating truly hideous sculptures — to perfection, creating a shrew so shrill you relished her comeuppance during the famous “Day-O” scene. (Fun fact: O’Hara met her husband, production designer Bo Welch, on this film.)
2. “Best in Show” (2000)
O’Hara worked with Eugene Levy for decades, but never so sweetly as in this film, where they played a reformed sex hobbyist and her oft-befuddled husband parenting their beloved little Norwich terrier, Winky. Despite a few setbacks — including having to sleep in the storage room en route to a big dog show and constant run-ins with her former paramours — their love for each other and their fur son is heart-tugging. This Christopher Guest comedy culminates in two of the all-time best moments in the director’s oeuvre, a song (with perfect harmonizing by O’Hara) about how “God loves a terrierrrrrrr” and O’Hara (hobbled by an ankle issue she turns into side-splitting physical comedy) cheering on Levy’s triumphant routine in the dog-show ring.
3. “Schitt’s Creek” (2015)
O’Hara hadn’t been in a hit in years when a little CBC show came along that would change her life. Somehow, “Schitt’s Creek” became, arguably, the biggest TV series in Canadian history, catapulting O’Hara onto the world stage once more. Few actors could have made the infamous Moira Rose as funny (or wore her wigs and wild outfits as ably) as O’Hara, who turned the character into the role of a lifetime.
4. “Home Alone” (1990) and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992)
O’Hara’s comeback on “Schitt’s Creek” inspired a regular stream of “Did you know Moira Rose was the mom in ‘Home Alone’?!” posts on social media as generation Z discovered their dainty queen starred in one of the biggest hits of the ’90s. O’Hara took what could have been a nothing role and elevated it to perfection, balancing frazzled intensity with deep warmth. Her anguished screech of “Kevin!” midflight will live on forever.
5. “Orange County” (2002)
This Mike White-penned comedy doesn’t get the kudos it deserves, given how funny, sweet and sad it is, all at once. One of the movie’s highlights is O’Hara, who plays Colin Hanks’ flighty, wine-loving mom. Even though it is, without a doubt, a comedic role — and she kills it, lolling about on the bed, whining about having to provide basic parenting services — it gives a brief glimpse into what might have been had she tackled meatier dramatic roles with more regularity. She did win a Genie for her work in the 1999 drama “The Life Before This” and, after her more serious performance last year on “The Last of Us” as a therapist, who knows what she might have done in her 70s, 80s and beyond? But still — she left us with a lot.
