It was initially announced<\/a> that O\u2019Hara had died following a \u201cbrief illness,\u201d according to her manager.<\/p>\n Now, TMZ<\/a> reports that the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office published the actor\u2019s death certificate Monday. It states that O\u2019Hara\u2019s immediate cause of death was a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in her heart. Rectal cancer was listed as the underlying cause.<\/p>\n The death certificate also states that O\u2019Hara has been cremated, with her remains given to her husband Bo Welch. <\/p>\n The Medical Examiner\u2019s Office did not immediately return The Independent\u2019s request for further details.<\/p>\n Although O\u2019Hara played a wide variety of characters in a career that spanned five decades, she was perhaps best known for playing mothers. She played Macaulay Culkin\u2019s character Kevin\u2019s mother, Kate McCallister, in the first two Home Alone<\/a> films \u2014 spawning the viral \u201cKevin!\u201d meme \u2014 before going on to play matriarch Moira Rose <\/a>in hit TV series Schitt\u2019s Creek.<\/p>\n Culkin was among those leading the tributes<\/a> to his late co-star, writing on Instagram: \u201cMama. I thought we had time. I wanted more.\u201d<\/p>\n Also paying his respects was Pedro Pascal, who worked with O\u2019Hara in The Last of Us. He wrote: \u201cOh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Catherine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2235461977-(1).jpeg\")
Catherine O’Hara, who died in January at the age of 71, pictured attending the Primetime Emmys in September 2025 (Frazer Harrison\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n