LOS ANGELES — Macaulay Culkin remembered Catherine O’Hara as more than the actor who played his mother in the Home Alone films.
To him, she was simply “mama”.
Macaulay joined O’Hara’s Schitt’s Creek co-stars Annie Murphy and Dan Levy on stage at Monday (Sept 14) night’s Emmy Awards for an emotional tribute to the revered comic actor, who died Jan 30 at age 71.
“She wasn’t just a wife to Bo (Welch) and mother to Matthew and Luke,” Macaulay said. “She was my mum. She was our mama, and by extension, she’s all of our mama.”
Macaulay urged viewers to call their mothers and recalled how O’Hara continued to show up for him decades after they starred together in two Home Alone movies.
Catherine played Kate McCallister, the frantic mother of Macaulay’s Kevin, in the 1990 original and its 1992 sequel, two holiday blockbusters that became perennial television favourites.
“This is the best that we can do for her tonight. We’re showing up for her,” he said. “She may have forgotten me twice, but we will always remember her.”
Catherine died from a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer listed as the underlying cause.
Her career spanned five decades, from the Canadian sketch series SCTV to the Home Alone films, Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries and her Emmy-winning performance as Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek.
Singer-songwriter Noah Kahan then performed during the in-memoriam segment, which honoured O’Hara and other members of the television industry who died over the past year.
The montage also remembered entertainment icon Dolly Parton, actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner, actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. and costume designer Bob Mackie, who was included despite dying earlier the same day as the ceremony.
Annie, who played Catherine’s daughter, Alexis Rose, on Schitt’s Creek, remembered her co-star’s unmistakable laugh and the joy she brought to audiences.
“Catherine’s laugh was a perpetual ‘yes, and,'” Annie said. “It challenged anyone who heard it to join in and be as delighted as she was, and she spread that delight everywhere.”
Annie described strangers across Canada sharing their grief with her after Catherine’s death. She said it included a note passed to her on an Air Canada flight, a hug from a gas station attendant and a woman who performed a mashup of Catherine’s characters while Annie was buying wine.
“These are only a very few of the interactions I’ve been lucky enough to have that remind me how profoundly Catherine has impacted the world,” Annie said. “And it’s because she brought us joy.”
Dan, who co-created Schitt’s Creek and played Catherine’s onscreen son David Rose, said the greatest lesson he learned from her was to “always say yes”, particularly to her creative instincts.
“Say yes to helping her build a TV character over the age of 60 that wears leather miniskirts and eight-inch heels and speaks in a strange, sometimes unintelligible transatlantic accent,” Levy said.
He recalled Catherine’s late-night rewrites and the eccentric ideas that helped define Moira Rose, including her collection of wigs.
“Say yes to the concept of a wig wall. Say yes to her asking to wear a wig as a hat. Say yes to her naming that wig,” Levy said. “Say yes to giving her space to experiment and create. It will amaze you on a daily basis, and it will change your life.”
Dan also remembered Catherine’s generosity away from the set.
“Say yes to her dinner invites and her stories and her wisdom and her generosity,” he said. “Those are the things you will hold on to the tightest. Always say yes to any opportunity to revel in the presence of greatness.”
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