Remembering the Work of the Hilarious Catherine O’Hara Who Has Passed Away at Age 71
Looking Back at Highlights of Catherine O’Hara’s Career
Catherine O’Hara has passed away at age 71 due to an unspecified illness that she apparently struggled briefly with.
When you think of the great comic actresses of our time, particularly character actresses, the first name that probably comes to mind is the hysterically funny Catherine O’Hara. It is with great sadness to report the Christopher Guest (A Mighty Wind) film regular, O’Hara, has passed away after struggling with conditions relating to her heart.
Back in the mid 1980’s, O’Hara appeared in Marty Scorsese’s masterpiece, After Hours, and made a stamp on the world of cinema that would later be intensified by her appearance in the box-office blockbuster, Home Alone, in 1990. Both roles were iconic ones for the brilliant O’Hara whose impeccable comic timing made her a true legend.
Let’s start with After Hours where her character commandeered a Mister Softee truck to hunt down Griffin Dunne’s alleged criminal character. O’Hara may have just been getting started in the movie industry with her work in After Hours, but the role was something of a comic gem as she played it completely straight and made the movie that much funnier to watch.
All bets were off when O’Hara played Macaulay Culkin’s mom in Home Alone. The scene where O’Hara’s mother character realizes she left her son at home and screams, “Kevin!” on the airplane is the most flat-out perfect line delivery in the whole entire movie. In that movie, one can feel her regret for leaving Culkin’s Kevin home alone as O’Hara’s character searches so desperately for a way to get back home to her son and rides with the character played by the wonderful John Candy in the process. Let’s hope comic geniuses Candy and O’Hara are having a drink together right now in the afterlife.
Speaking of the afterlife, O’Hara managed a great role in-between After Hours and Home Alone with her work in 1988’s Tim Burton supernatural gem, Beetlejuice. As she gets to dance around the dinner table with others, O’Hara lip-syncs Harry Belafonte’s lyrics, “Day-O,” in close-up and moves and grooves around the table with wonderful style that made all her scenes in Beetlejuice nothing short of priceless.
Television fans loved her work as well as she did most of her more recent work for the small screen. Shows like Schitt’s Creek and The Studio displayed O’Hara at her most priceless with that remarkable wit that characterized her so well prominently on display. Playing opposite other comic legends like Eugene Levy and Seth Rogen worked wonders for the terrific actress that O’Hara was.
O’Hara almost always stole the show in anything she was in and appeared in countless movies and TV shows. There are too many titles to name in this brief space. She made appearances on so many TV shows that if it was a famous comedy show, O’Hara most likely got to appear in at least one episode of it (e.g. Married…with Children). An actress who never met a role she couldn’t tackle with zest, Catherine O’Hara was truly one of the greats. What was your favorite role of hers?
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