{"id":1583,"date":"2026-01-31T06:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/?p=1583"},"modified":"2026-01-31T06:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:28:14","slug":"home-alone-star-catherine-ohara-dies-at-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/home-alone-star-catherine-ohara-dies-at-71\/","title":{"rendered":"Home alone\u2019 star Catherine O\u2019Hara dies at 71"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Catherine O\u2019Hara, the beloved Canadian-born actress whose career spanned more than five decades, has died at the age of 71 following a brief illness, her manager confirmed.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hara rose to international fame with memorable roles in some of film and television\u2019s most cherished works. She became a household name playing the frazzled yet loving mother Kate McCallister in the Home Alone movies, a role that endeared her to generations of fans.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Her comedic brilliance and unique presence later earned her widespread acclaim as Moira Rose on the hit sitcom Schitt\u2019s Creek, a performance that brought her an Emmy Award and introduced her to a whole new generation of viewers.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Before her breakout Hollywood work, O\u2019Hara honed her craft in sketch comedy with Toronto\u2019s Second City and on the influential series SCTV, where she worked alongside fellow Canadian talents like Eugene Levy and Martin Short.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>She also starred in classic films including Beetlejuice and lent her voice to beloved animated movies such as The Nightmare Before Christmas.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In recent years, O\u2019Hara continued to shine with roles in Apple TV+\u2019s The Studio and HBO\u2019s The Last of Us, earning additional Emmy nominations and demonstrating her versatility beyond comedy.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Tributes have poured in from colleagues, co-stars, and fans around the world. Home Alone co-star Macaulay Culkin shared a heartfelt message, writing, \u201cMama. I thought we had time. I love you. I\u2019ll see you later.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Fellow performers including Pedro Pascal and Seth Rogen also expressed admiration for her warmth, talent, and the joy she brought to every project.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Off-screen, O\u2019Hara was married to production designer Bo Welch, with whom she had two sons, Matthew and Luke.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Her passing marks the end of a remarkable career that influenced comedy, film, and television \u00a0and left an indelible mark on audiences across generations.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Catherine O\u2019Hara, the beloved Canadian-born actress whose career spanned more than five decades, has died at the age of 71 following a brief illness, her manager confirmed.\u00a0 O\u2019Hara rose to international fame with memorable roles in some of film and television\u2019s most cherished works. She became a household name playing the frazzled yet loving mother [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[160],"class_list":["post-1583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","author-urbanafrica"],"authors":[{"term_id":160,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"urbanafrica","display_name":"URBANAFRICA","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1585,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions\/1585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1583"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}