Catherine O’Hara’s unforgettable film career will be celebrated this summer with a retrospective at the TIFF Lightbox.
Organizers tell the Star that “Catherine O’Hara: The Queen of Comedy,” a series of six memorable films starring the late actor and comedian, will screen from Aug. 21 to 26. Several still-to-be-announced special guests will introduce the films.
The program features three of O’Hara’s acclaimed improvisational collaborations with director Christopher Guest — “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show” and “A Mighty Wind” — as well as her turns as frantic mother Kate McCallister in “Home Alone,” eccentric artist Delia Deetz in “Beetlejuice” and chaotic ice cream truck driver Gail in Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours.”
O’Hara, who gained fame as a member of the SCTV comedy troupe, died on Jan. 30 from a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer listed as an underlying cause on her death certificate.
The retrospective, curated by programmer Keith Bennie, was announced as part of TIFF’s summer and fall calendar. The slate also includes a series honouring the films of “The Odyssey” director Christopher Nolan, which runs July 8 to Aug. 20, and an anime program titled “Drawn Universes: Visions in Animation,” guest-curated by Japanese director Masaaki Yuasa, which begins in November.
