“Schitt’s Creek” star Catherine O’Hara has died. She was 71.
CAA confirmed her passing on Friday, sharing a statement to Page Six that read, “We are saddened to announce the passing of Catherine O’Hara.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department told us exclusively that they responded to a call to the beloved acting icon’s home at 4:48 a.m. local time before transporting her to the hospital in “serious” condition.
TMZ was the first to report the news. O’Hara’s cause of death remains unclear.
She is survived by her husband of 33 years, Bob Welch, and their two sons, Matthew, 31, and Luke, 29.
Born in 1954 in Toronto, Canada, O’Hara was one of seven children.
After graduating high school in 1973, O’Hara began working as a waitress at the legendary Second City improv comedy hub in Toronto before landing a spot as Gilda Radner’s understudy.
She went on to become a main cast member the following year when Radner left “Saturday Night Live.”
“Once I saw the Second City show, I thought, ‘Oh my Lord, that is what I want to do. This is what I am meant to do. Please let me in,’” O’Hara told Playback in 2008. “Waitressing seemed like a fun way to watch the show for free every night.”
O’Hara later served as a founding cast member of “Second City Television” (“SCTV”) in 1976 alongside fellow Canadian comedians and future stars Eugene Levy, John Candy, Martin Short and Rick Moranis.
She became a star of the sketch comedy show for her ability to play both comedic and dramatic characters, and the friendships she made with Levy, Candy and the rest of her co-stars would last for decades.
“A lot of people come up to me to talk about ‘SCTV’ – it is really amazing how long that show has lived on,” she said in 2008. “There have always been amazingly funny people in Canada, and we were just one group.”
“’SCTV’ might have strengthened the idea that your work can go farther than the city or the country you live in, and made it seem more accessible,” she added at the time.
However, she rose to fame when she took on the role of Delia Deetz in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice” in 1988, alongside Winona Ryder, and made a name for herself as Macaulay Culkin’s mom in the first two “Home Alone” movies in 1990 and 1992 respectively.
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