Acting legend Catherine O’Hara died this past Friday at the age of 71. O’Hara’s career spanned decades; she broke out on the big screen in Beetlejuice in 1988, became iconic for shouting “Kevin!” in the Home Alone movies, voiced Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas, stole the show in mockumentaries like Best in Show and A Mighty Wind, and had a late career spike playing Moira Rose on the sitcom Schitt’s Creek, for which she won her first and only Emmy Award for acting. She was still going strong at the time of her death, impressing audiences with her turn as a post-apocalyptic therapist on HBO’s zombie drama The Last of Us and snagging a recurring role on the Apple TV+ comedy The Studio. Her body of work is truly impressive.
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Less well known is that O’Hara was hired to be a cast member on Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s, when the show was being retooled. However, she never actually appeared in a sketch that season, quitting to return to the Canadian sketch show SCTV, which she appeared on for five of its six seasons. Speaking to Vulture about her brief SNL tenure in 2013, O’Hara said she quit because she didn’t like living in New York City.
Naturally, Saturday Night Live remembered O’Hara on last night’s episode, hosted by Alexander Skarsgård with musical guest Cardi B. The show put up a card in her honor right before the curtain call. See it below:
Catherine O’Hara Hosted ‘SNL’ Twice After Quitting
Saturday Night Live/NBC
Although being a full-time cast member didn’t agree with her, O’Hara eventually hosted Saturday Night Live, once in 1991 and again in 1992. The first time she hosted, Home Alone had just raised her profile, and the second time was just before Home Alone 2 hit theaters. Check her out hosting the 1991 episode below:
The producers at SNL are far from the only ones paying tribute to O’Hara. Macaulay Culkin, who played her son Kevin in the first two Home Alone movies, weighed in on Saturday. “Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later,” he wrote.
Other tributes came in from the likes of director Ron Howard, fellow Canadian Michael Bublé, Michael Keaton, Pedro Pascal, and The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick. O’Hara was beloved by people within the industry and without, and will be dearly missed.
Birthdate
March 4, 1954
Birthplace
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Birthname
Catherine Anne O’Hara